Introductions and Discoveries
by Cateye007
Summary: Follows the story of Tak and the Power of Juju, with many modifications to the story due to OCs, and includes the cutscenes. Inspired by TOONSRULE's "Beginnings."
1. Prolouge to Disaster

There was once a small village, composed mostly on flat grounds, with many other villages branching off of it.

It was called the Pupanunu village.

Many a strange thing was about to befall this village, and many a dangerous thing as well. And, like many other adventures, it begins almost like any other day.

Oh, and who am I, you ask? Well, that's unimportant. What's important is that you listen, and maybe learn a lesson or two from this story. That's what stories are all about, no?

"Come with me, Tak, I want to show you something interesting!"

Early in the morning, a small bit after dawn, you could hear small voices from inside a hut, enclosed in a small space near a tiny lake…if it should even be called that…it was more the size of a large puddle.

This is where we shall meet our hero, Tak.

Tak stumbled out, rubbing his right eye with his left hand, as he hung his head as a sign of drowsiness.

"But Jibolba, it's so early! I can't really compose myself this early!" He groaned, turning slightly towards the old man.

The old man, in return, began laughing a bit, and straightened Tak's back out so he wouldn't be seeming so tired. "Well, you're gonna have to compose yourself for this, young man! It's almost daybreak, and I don't want you to miss this!" he began leading Tak farther away from his hut, almost breaking into a run, he seemed so excited.

After a few steps with this back straightened, Tak just gave up and slouched once again, almost dragging his feet. They walked by a tall, muscular man with black hair, passing right by him, until he slammed the handle of his hammer into the ground, making a loud enough thud to get their attention.

"Hey, old man, your eyesight getting worse? Nearly walked right past me!" Jibolba turned to see his former student leaning on his hammer with a smirk on his face. Jibolba couldn't help but laugh at the man's remark.

"Ah wait, you're taking Tak to go see the…" It seemed as if the word couldn't come to him, so he just pointed to the sky. "The…thing, right?" He sheepishly smiled, as Jibolba crossed his arms.

"Yes, the thing, Lok." Jibolba sarcastically snapped. "One more thing, Lok. I'll be spending most of the day with Tak. I feel today, there might be some mischief…could you watch over the village for me?" Lok nodded as Jibolba ran off, motioning for Tak to follow him. He just stood there for a few seconds, seeming unresponsive, until he kind of snapped back into reality.

"Oh…g-gotta run! Nice seeing ya, Lok!" Tak called after his friend as he sort-of ran to keep up with Jibolba.

Jibolba finally stopped at a small outcropping of rock, creating a cliff. He looked up at the sky and told himself, "It's absolutely beautiful, isn't it?"

Tak, who had finally caught up with Jibolba, began looking around, but coming up with nothing at all interesting. "I don't see anything…" He grumbled, under his breath. Sudenly something glinted out of the corner of his eye, and he looked upwards.

There was a comet flying through the sky.

"Oh…is that a…" he started before Jibolba cut him off.

"Yes, a comet, Tak! Isn't it beautiful?"

"Golly…" Tak whispered, scratching the back of his head. "But…what's so special about it?"

"Comets are very special things." Jibolba began to explain. "They appear in many places, at many different times. They are very rare to spot, and very hard to spot in the daytime. That's why I took you out so early."

"Oh." Tak said, rubbing his eyes. "Don't these things have a sort of symbolism to them?"

"Ah, yes…" Jibolba nodded. "Since they are such rare phenomena, they are said to symbolize bad luck and misfortune. But, I just believe that's a bunch of hooey, myself. I mean, we're quite fortunate to see a comet out here so early, aren't we?"

"Yeah, we are." Tak weakly stated. "Uh, can I go back to bed now?"

Jibolba almost nodded, but all of a sudden, his eyes widened, and they seemed to be fixated on something behind Tak. His look of urgency suddenly made Tak snap out of his drowsiness.

"J-Jibolba? What's wrong?" Tak asked. All of a sudden, a cold wind swept past them, and it was absolutely chilling. Tak looked over his shoulder to see a figure surrounded by darkness, three orbs floating around him.

"Oh sweet Juju…is that…?" But he was cut off as Jibolba grabbed his wrist and pulled him along, forcing him to run.

"There's no time to explain yet, Tak! We just need to get somewhere safe!"

Jibolba dragged him along, as he kept looking over his shoulder at the shrouded figure.

This is where we now meet our villain, Tlaloc.

Flinging darkness at people everywhere around the village, every person it hit suddenly turned into a fluffy ball of white wool.

A sheep.

Along with the darkness, he flung taunts at everyone as well.

"Beyo! Why are you running? _Is da wittle Bee-oh afwaid _OF ME?!"

"What's the matter, Ayane? Feeling SHEEPISH? I THOUGHT so!"

"Now come here! Let me get a good shot at you, Tobar!"

"Tak! Get behind me!" Jibolba ordered. He got into his focused stance, and spread his arms, creating a shield around him and Tak that began to expand.

All of a sudden, the shield began to shake and tremble, as Jibolba began to struggle with it.

"Jibolba, what's happening?" Tak asked, his voice layered heavily with concern.

"No…the power…it's not…enough…." Jibolba groaned, his voice becoming strained.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Tak asked, sounding even more nervous than the last time.

"He…stole…the…..STONES!"

The shield burst, almost like a bubble, but the impact it gave them was that of an explosion. Tak suddenly whited out, a shrill ringing in his ears, as he vaguely feels his body being tossed and rolled about in the air.

When he finally came to and opened his eyes, he was laying, face-down in a small field of overgrown grass. Jibolba somehow landed in the tiny lake near his hut. Tak got up, albeit a bit painfully, and ran over to Jibolba.

After a few shakes, Jibolba awoke, and they were treated to a foggy sunrise.

"Jibolba…" Tak asked, his voice shaky and nervous, "What do we do now?"

Jibolba narrowed his eyes as he looked, determinedly out towards the sunrise.

"We'll need the help…of a Juju."


	2. Chapter 1: Introductions

"Are you sure you have everything you need Jibolba? I could quickly run out and get you more materials if you're missing something." Jibolba counted over all of this materials again, and turned towards Tak, smiling.

"I've got everything I need, Tak! Now, go on, you can spend some time outside, if you wish, but make sure the sheep aren't causing chaos."

"Alright. Thanks, Jibolba!" Tak ran outside as the sheep began bleating as they saw him run out.

Jibolba turned towards his materials for summoning, not even expecting, that soon, he wouldn't be the only being in the room.

He began his chant.

"Boogala boogala foo foo,claotobu. Kah-nah-faah kee-tee baukotu…tu…tu, uh…or is it uh…Eee-tee-baah kah-tee…oh, I can never remember that part!" Who he was trying to summon had actually appeared once he started his chant. But he didn't know that.

"Er…maybe uh…uh, lo-bow-tow tee-kee- baoul—no, NO! Eh…but it's 'lo-bow-tow…something…'"

Whatever the being was turned towards Jibolba as she heard his frustrated noises.

"Is this chanting ever going to work?!" He semi-shouted. "What is it going to take to get into contact with a powerful Juju spirit from another world?!" And then, he opened his eyes.

And let out an ear splitting scream.

He was suddenly overcome with joy as the Juju had sort of climbed back up to see him (since she had jumped back about a foot at his shriek).

"It worked!" He exclaimed. He then tried to make up for his startling first impression by acting a bit nicer. "Erm…hello? Can you hear me?" He asked the Juju. But, said Juju still refused to speak, and only stared at him with unblinking eyes.

Jibolba then smiled and mused to himself, "She doesn't speak, but is seems she listens…." He looked back up at the Juju and made more observations on her appearance.

"You look so strange…your clothes…the power stick you hold in your hands…I have never seen a juju like you before!" The spirit smiled, content with thoughts of being 'unique' in their world.

He then examined her further, seeing that she was in a sort of box-shaped object with a transparent screen, and mechanical arms atattched to it, limp at the sides.

"And what is this magic box you watch me on? It must clearly be the most important thing in your hut!" Jibolba excitedly pressed his hands to the screen as he was becoming steadily more intrigued by this strange creature. "You do me great honor to watch me on it." He said after he took his hands off the screen. He then introduced himself.

"My name is Jibolba. I am the powerful shaman of the great and legendary Pupanunu people." The strange being could hear a faint bleating outside, sounding like goats or sheep. She looked towards what seemed like a door to the hut, and couldn't pay attention to the old man.

"For generations we have—HEY! QUIET OUT THERE!" Jibolba yelled out the door.

Tak poked his head in, wondering what he was screaming about.

"I'M TALKING TO A JUJU!"

Tak looked straight at the "juju", who only stared back in awe.

"Tak," the shaman asked. "Would you shut those people up? THIS IS IMPORTANT!" He was about to turn back to the mystical being in the television, but suddenly remembered something.

"And get warrior Lok! I want to introduce him to this juju here!" At that, Tak nodded and ran outside.

The girl raised an eyebrow in curiosity as she was trying to comprehend what the heck just happened.

"I am so sorry, o' strange and powerful juju." Jibolba apologized. "There's a lot going on today, and that's why I called upon you for your help." He then began his story.

_Throughout the history of the Pupanunu people, Shaman like myself had known that someday, something TERRIBLE would happen to our great protector the Moon Juju. So said the PUPANUNU PEOPLE'S PROPHECY!_

Tak ran around, searching for any sign of Lok, anywhere. He then bumped into an exceptionally large sheep, with a familiar amulet hooked onto its wool. Once Tak saw the amulet, a terrible sense of dread slowly filled him. He shook it off, then hoisted the sheep upwards, and carried it back to Jibolba's hut.

_The Moon Juju is our shield against evil, and the source of my Juju powers. She is strong, and nice, and oh, so beautiful._

_And the source of our problems, T'laloc is NOT nice. And he's sure not beautiful. He's jealous, and practices bad juju. At the council who chose the new high shaman, he was passed over, in favor of me._

_So, last night, T'laloc decided to take his revenge._

_He crept into the Moon Temple with his foul servants, Pins and Needles, and stole the Moon Stones, the source of the Moon Juju's power. The first thing T'laloc did with the Moon stones was to turn all of the Villagers into stupid, helpless sheep! Without Moon Juju, my power was only enough to protect a few. But this is only the beginning of T'laloc's terrible plans. _

_But there is still hope! The prophecy clearly says that a mighty warrior will defeat T'laloc, and save the Pupanunu people. I have, in fact trained such a warrior._

_HIS NAME IS LOK!_

As if on cue, Tak walked in the room, holding the sheep he found earlier. The girl in the TV wanted to turn, then soon found that she could move of her own will without moving, herself. She turned her vision around for a bit, just to test it, then, focused back to the problem at hand.

She turned to look, and Tak was holding a large, puffy white sheep by its back, and he set it down on the floor of Jibolba's hut. The being floated closer to the sheep to get a good look at it. Tak looked at her briefly, then Jibolba spoke up, a furious look on his face.

"Tak! What are you doing?"

"You told me to go get Lok…"

"Yes, that's right, go fetch Lok, stop playing with the sheep."

"I _did _fetch Lok!"

"No…you fetched a dirty, stinky animal!"

"That's Lok! See? He's wearing Lok's amulet. T'laloc must have turned him into a sheep!"

The Juju turned towards Jibolba quickly enough to see his furious expression turn into one of complete despair. He backed away, as thoughts swirled in his head...what he was expecting to save them…rendered useless.

He thought they were doomed to complete anihilation, since the only thing that was supposed to rescue the Moon Juju, and restore the villiage's power…was now a sheep, just like the rest of them.

"No…no….NO NO NO! THIS IS ALL WRONG!" He began to stutter his words. "Th-this isn't in the Pu-p-pu…pu-p-p-pu-pu—" He was cut off by Tak putting a hand on his shoulder, then helping him up.

"Pupanunu…" Tak corrected the elder, trying to calm him down. Jibolba only burst out again.

"Pupanunu people's prophecy! The mighty warrior doesn't become a sheep! The mighty warrior doesn't lick my foot…" The juju then looked downwards, and the warrior-sheep began to lick Jibolba's foot, just like she thought he would. She held back the impulse to giggle. "STOP THE LICKING LOK!" Jibolba shouted at the sheep as he swatted him away. He then groaned, and hung his head.

Tak piped up, and suggested something. "Well, can't we just…change him back?"

Jibolba was in such a haze, that he really had no clue what Tak had just said. "I…don't know…" He replied. Then, an idea struck him harder than lightning. A wide grin spread across his face.

"YES! I've got it! We can change Lok back into a mighty warrior!" He pointed towards the girl mentioned earlier. "This magical juju spirit that watches us from another world can help us!" Tak had ran out the door already, unbeknownst to the Juju, and Jibolba kept speaking.

"Follow Tak. Protect him with your power! Go to the ancient Burial Grounds, and put the teeth into the statues! And get me some magical Nubu plants while you're out. Now go! BOTH OF YOU! Lok must stop T'laloc before he DESTROYS THE MOON GODDESS!" She turned to her left, and zoomed out the door to meet up with Tak.

She found Tak standing just outside the hut, and she floated up beside him, and he turned to look. He smiled, she smiled back. Then, their strange little moment of happiness was interrupted by a swirling of leaves and wind that flurried past them. All of a sudden, a green skinned girl, looking about Tak's age appeared in front of them. She introduced herself.

"Hello Tak! My name's Flora. The Moon Juju sent me here to hang out with you and help you, whenever I can. Well, it's a long road ahead! We'd better get started!" Tak agreed instantly.

"Ok," He said, "But where should we start?" Flora pondered for a bit, then, had an idea.

"I'm thinking we should go to the Burial Grounds. We can find the ancient Staff, then, take it to Jibolba to give to Lok!" She transformed into a light green ball, and was about to fly off when she noticed a box floating beside Tak.

"Huh?" She asked. "Who're you? You look familiar….but I can't quite place your name…and I don't remember seeing someone like you in a…..whatever this is…" Flora flew around the Juju's television-like contraption, and tapped the top. A mechanical arm, attatched to its side, swatted Flora away, and she jumped.

"Whoa! Your little friend sure has a set of claws on her!"

"Oh, her? Uh…." Tak came up with an excuse as to why she wasn't speaking. "Sh-she can't talk."

Flora understood, but still expected her to speak. She then transformed back into her ball form, and flew off, motioning the two to follow her. Tak moved ahead, but the girl stayed behind. She was too preoccupied with her "claws."

She examined the metallic hands in front of her screen, and must've figured they belonged to her. She looked up, and saw Tak motioning her to follow.

Flora, Tak and the other juju stopped at something that looked like a well. But it was something more than that. Flora was speaking to Tak.

"Hey, pull this lever up, and see what happens!" She playfully motioned to the lever near the pulley, holding up a rope. Tak pushed the lever upwards, and all of a sudden, a tiny little lift, made out of bones, was pulled up to them. Tak stepped in, happily, and the Juju-in-a-box floated beside him.

Flora pushed the lever down and flew down to join them as the lift slowly moved downwards. "This lift'll take us to the Burial Grounds, Tak." She then looked towards the other girl in the lift. "I hope this Juju will be helpful along your quest, since there may be times I'll have to leave. But remember, I'll always help you whenever I can."

Tak turned towards the girl. "Hey, you have to have a name, right, juju? Because, well, we can't call you 'Juju' forever. It'll get a little boring after a while." She then looked up, a tired look in her eyes as she finally decided to speak.

"My name is Kat. Why are you two insisting on calling me a juju? I mean…I don't think I'm one! Am I?"

"Huh…I dunno…" Flora mused as she stroked her chin in thought. She began floating around, getting a 360 view of Kat. "The markings on your face do seem oddly familiar, as does your voice. But this weird little box you're in? I couldn't say you were a juju. I mean, none of them use a box to fly around in. Most of them do this!" Flora then transformed into her light ball form again, and quickly switched back.

"That's cool! I wish I could do that!" Kat giggled. "So, how long is it gonna take for this thing to reach the burial grounds?"

Flora sighed. "Get comfy. It's only supposed to be 10 minutes, but it'll seem a lot longer, since we're in complete darkness."

Kat, in response, groaned, crossed the mechanical arms attatched to her "magic box" and leaned onto the back of the lift.

A/N: I REVISED THE WHOOOLLLE THIIIING! So yes, Kat is basically 'my' character, but is she really a juju, or not? Hell, I don't know. But whatever she is, she is going to be following Tak around a whole lot in this story. And also, Kat's going to be like, 'WE NEED ALL OF THESE NUBU PLANTS!' Yeah, she's gonna be part-completionist. Even though you need nine in the game (there's 12 in all), there will be one on each island, so Jibolba will only require four. :P

Confusing, isn't it? XD


	3. Chapter 2: Creepy and Kooky

"So, Nubu plants, was it?" Flora asked Tak, pressing a finger to her chin.

"Yeah," Tak replied. "He needed four of them…I think that's what he said. Well, where can we find them?" Both Tak and Flora were kept in thought for a while, as Kat still floated in the back of the lift, mechanical arms crossed.

"AH! I remember now!" Flora exclaimed with joy. "There's at least one Nubu plant where we are, and there's one in the Tree Villiage, one in Dryrock Canyon, and one on Chicken Island!"

Tak seemed as joyful as Flora was for a second or so, but then, he realized something. "Hey, wait…didn't the lift stop a while ago?" He shifted his weight around a bit, shaking the bonemade lift. He stepped off, Kat and Flora following him.

Flora's eyes lit up at the sight of the Burial Grounds. "Wow Tak! This is the Pupanunu Burial Grounds! Some great Pupanunu ancestors are buried here. Huh, those four statues look interesting…"

"Should we check them out?" Tak asked Flora, who was still somewhat entranced at the sight of the burial grounds. Flora looked towards him and Kat, a huge grin on her face.

"Sure! Seems like a plan!" Flora giggled as she flew downwards. Tak looked downwards and all he saw was a cobweb covering a hole, but there was a rope. Kat tapped him on the back, then pointed him towards the rope right in front of him.

"Try that…" She whispered to her newfound friend. He nodded and leapt for the rope. He seemed to get the hang of swinging around for a bit, but then, he suddenly lost his grip.

A sudden sense of panic overwhelmed Kat, and she dove right for Tak. But then, he bounced up about halfway to the rope. Kat looked down, and in her surprise, the spiderweb was a trampoline. She huffed, yet still had a smile on her face, and motioned Tak to follow her. Flora was already standing up on the platform with the four statues surrounding her.

After climbing up a few stones to reach the second level of the platform, Tak could feel eyes staring into his back.

He turned, and sure enough, a Ram came dashing towards him. He was flung to the melon bush about a yard away. He rubbed his head, and sighed, thankful that he was still in one piece.

He felt Kat tap him again, and she pointed downwards, to the fruit resting at Tak's feet. "Rams like melons…" She whispered. He nodded once again. He scooped up the mushy melon, and slowly walked towards the fierce animal. It looked up at him again, and narrowed its eyes. He ran back to the tree, panting and frightened.

Kat shook her head disappointedly and cupped his face in her cold metallic hands, and stared straight into his terrified eyes. She mouthed to him "_No fear._"

He nodded once again, and this time, his face took on a determined look. He walked about the same distance he did the last time, and set the melon down gently. The Ram actually smiled, for once, and trotted daintily to the melon. Tak looked back at Kat, who seemed satisfied.

"Lead him back…" She whispered, and Tak knew what she meant. Taking three more melons, he made a trail to the tree, and the ram was content, happily enjoying melon after melon after melon. Then, the two nodded to eachother, and ran up the stone steps, taking them to the top level.

Flora laughed at the two, as she lounged in midair. "Took you long enough!" She giggled, and they laughed a bit. Tak, still aching from the bash, rubbed his bruised arm uncomfortably. "Well, do you see this?" Flora pointed to a strange object near Tak's feet, and he stepped back a bit. The trio examined it carefully. Tak scratched his head as he tried to figure it out.

"It's….a sort of…tooth?" He guessed, hoping it was the right answer. Flora nodded and clapped her hands.

"And what would that tooth go into?" Flora pointed to a statue behind her, and sure enough, it was missing a tooth. Tak smiled and ran up to the statue, sticking the gold tooth into the stony mouth carefully. The statue glowed a brilliant green, and a square of the same color above the entrance to what looked like a crypt lit up.

"Yes! Great job, Tak! Now, there should be at least three more, since there are three more statues that need those huge golden teeth." Flora looked out onto the horizon, and saw another tooth, glowing brilliantly, despite there being no sun in the burial ground.

"Hey! I see another one of the teeth! Go over there and get it Tak!" Flora pointed towards the tooth, and Tak made a wild dash off the platform and towards the tooth.

"So, Flora," Kat asked. "What's your…um…magical power…?" She asked awkwardly.

Flora chuckled and sat crosslegged on the ground. She slowly waved her hands around one spot, and Kat watched as, slowly, a beautiful, pink flower bloomed from the very moss.

"I control and protect plant life in this world." She floated back up again. "My twin sister, Fauna, protects the animal life in this world."

Kat suddenly began giggling uncontrollably.

Flora raised an eyebrow and asked Kat what she was laughing about.

"Your names! Flora and Fauna! And you protect plants and animals!" Kat let out a loud, hearty stream of laughter after that. After about 6 more seconds of laughter, she wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm sorry, I'm finding that a lot funnier than I should."

Soon enough, Tak ran back towards them with the golden tooth.

He panted, and stuck the tooth into the next statue. A bright blue appeared on its head, and above the crypt.

A surprised look crossed Flora's face as another glowing tooth appeared. "Tak! There's another one! Go on and get it!" Flora shouted. Tak already had left. At the strange sight, Kat just sat there, gaping.

"Flora? Why did the tooth just…appear there?" Kat questioned her floating companion. In return, Flora scoffed.

"Trust me, I'm still trying to understand the physics of this place."

-Two golden teeth later…-

After the final statue and crypt square glowed indigo, the crypt finally opened. Kat motioned Tak to go inside. He walked cautiously, as not to disturb any spiderwebs. All that was in front of him was a large,

blue coffin, with a jewel on each corner. He was about to walk toward it and open it up, but it began to shake.

Tak backed up about a foot, as he watched the coffin lid slowly slide off. What he thought would emerge out was a great warrior, ever so well preserved, still with his armor on. But, what really came out of the coffin was a purplish mummy, sloppily wrapped, wearing only a crown, and had a strange looking underbite. He was carrying a long bamboo stick in his right hand, using it to support himself. He looked about to speak, but began coughing immediately.

About 2 waves of coughing, then a long, painful sounding wheeze passed before Tak spoke up.

"Whoa! Are you okay?" He asked the mummy, only a pinch of concern in his voice. The undead warrior king finally was able to speak.

"Aww, dat happens all the time…part 'a being mummified. Y'get these dust balls in yer throat..'n they feel like li'l rocks." He gagged, as a bit more dust fell out of his mouth. He then eyed Tak suspiciously. "So," He started. "Yer the great warrior of tha' Pupanunu people's prophecy, mmhmm…come to pick up the staff of yer ancestors? Well, ya don' look so great ta' me!"

Tak was slightly amused that the strange mummy would think of him as a warrior. "Me?" He asked, a slight giggle to his voice. "Oh, I'm not the Great Warrior! That's Lok's job! I'm just here to take the staff to Jibolba." He then began to reach for the staff, but as soon as Tak began to extend his arms, the warrior king pulled his back.

"The prophecy says, only tha' Great Warrior can have tha' staff. If y'can take the staff from me…mmhmm…you are meant to have it!" The mummy then took a fighting stance, as if he was about to fight Tak.

He was scared at first, but then, he remembered what Kat had told him earlier.

_No fear._

He braced himself and ran straight for the mummy, and as his hands wrapped around the staff, he yanked with all his might. Able to get the staff away from the warrior, he was happy for a split second, but then a little disgusted. He can't help but think he heard a loud crack along with the powerful tug.

He opened his eyes, and he found that, not only did he get the staff, but a left arm to boot!

All four who were in the room looked straight at the arm, still holding tightly to the staff. About ten seconds of silence passed until the King spoke up again.

"Aw man! N' that's mah fightin' arm! What a drag…." He sighed. Tak still kept his eyes on the detatched limb, even as the mummy slowly pryed his own fingers from the staff. Flora and Kat simply exchanged disgusted looks.

"Take the staff, Great Warrior," the king continued, finally detatching his left arm, and held it as if a new weapon in his possession. "Use it wisely, an' often. N' DON'T EV'R TOUCH ME AGAIN! …Mmhmm…"

With that, he then climbed back into the coffin, and snored loudly, continuing his semi-eternal slumber once more.


	4. Chapter 3: One down, three to go!

"Yes! Great job, Tak!" Flora cheered. "You've got the warrior's staff! With it, now, you can polevault yourself up onto higher ledges!" She then turned into her green ball form, and floated up onto a high ledge leading to outside the tomb.

"Try to use it to get up onto this ledge! Oh, and I sense a Nubu plant nearby! Let's go look for it!" She then flew out the window.

Kat mirrored her, flying up onto the ledge, motioning for Tak to follow her. It took Tak a little while to get a hang of the Staff's polevaulting, but was able to hoist himself onto the ledge after a few tries. Kat nodded in approval, and they both went downwards to meet up with Flora, by a strange looking plant.

"See this? This is one of the Nubu Plants Jibolba was talking about. Now, we won't need the whole thing," She said, pointing at the giant plant. "Just the little flower in the middle."

Tak acknowledged her advice, and snuck towards the plant. Suddenly, Kat noticed the plant was twitching. Her eyes widened in fear, and just as the mouth of the plant was about to close on the hand of her newfound friend, she screamed, and pulled him away.

"What the heck did you do that for?!"

"TH-THE PLANT! IT'S ALIVE!"

Sure enough, the plant started to move on its own, as arms separated from its sides, and grew claws, and the mouth of the plant became a head, along with the flower they needed becoming its tounge.

Tak suddenly wrenched himself from Kat's arms and ran towards the plant, striking it about three times with his club, but then getting a nasty scratch on his arm. He was flung back a bit, but then got himself back up and went full speed, once again, toward the plant. Kat had a worried look on her face as the plant suddenly began bulking itself up, as if it was about to charge up a huge attack.

Tak stopped about two steps away from the plant as it unleashed a mighty roar, and with it, a blast of white energy. Tak screamed out in pain as the white heat shot through him and sent him reeling backwards. Once he came back to his senses, his first thought was of how much that reminded him of when Jibolba had tried to protect him from the sheep spell. His second thought was:

_I am gonna KILL that plant!_

"Tak! Look! The plant is weak after the blast attack!" he suddenly heard Flora call out. "Get it!"

Tak nodded after his vision cleared, and leapt for the plant, landing a swift and heavy hit upon its head. All of a sudden, he heard a snap akin to roots giving in. He opened his eyes, and what looked to be the plant's back snapped, and its head was laying flat on the ground, with its mouth open. Thankfully, its flower-tongue was still intact, and perfectly healthy.

Tak was still paranoid about the plant, so he snuck up to it, and quickly plucked the plant from it, still watching the plant. When it didn't spring back to life when he expected it to, he exhaled with relief, but felt a sudden pain which made him collapse.

Flora gasped and rushed over to him, and placed her hands over his wounds. A glow similar to the one she emitted when she grew a flower out of the moss appeared as she slowly healed him. As she lifted her hands away from him, all of his wounds were completely healed. Kat then snuck up behind Flora, and tapped her shoulder with a sharp, metallic finger, causing her to jump, startled.

"Excuse me, Flora," Kat started, her anger obviously building. "Why did you not…"

"…have the decency…"

"…TO TELL US…"

"…**THE PLANT…"**

"…**WOULD TRY…"**

"…**TO KILL US!?"**

Kat was holding Flora by her shoulders and rapidly shaking her, the screen pressed roughly against the green sprite's nose.

"I…I didn't know! The...the plant just s-suddenly…"

"**WHAT ABOUT YOUR WHOLE DAMN PLANT LIFE KNOWLEDGE CRAP?! HOW DID YOU NOT KNOW!?"**

"It normally doesn't! It must've been cursed or something!"

Kat suddenly couldn't come up with anything to say, and experienced a horrible adrenaline backfire. She dropped to the floor, and fanned herself inside the box. One of her mechanical arms mimicked her movements.

"Oh, Flora…I'm sorry about that. I suppose I was a bit distraught. I mean…Tak could've…died!" Kat apologized, trying to make her outburst reasonable.

Flora nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm sure I would've too, if I was in your position to be his main protector."

They talked for a bit, and Tak was finding himself a little bored. He looked around the Burial grounds, taking in the scenery a bit. He looked at the flower, still in his hand, and decided to smell it, out of curiosity. When he got the first whiff, he responded with an outburst of:

"WHOA!"

Flora and Kat floated over to him and looked at his stunned expression quizzically.

"G-Guys!" He finally sputtered. "The flower…it's got this scent…I…can't really explain it…heheh…uh…you smell it, Flora!" He handed the flower to her, and she complied to take a strong whiff.

"Whoo~ BABY!" She exclaimed, floating around dizzily, but with an almost sickly happy look on her face. "It smells just like…uh…hmm…I can't quite place the smell…smells oddly like...uh…" She scratched her head to try and explain the smell.

Kat and Tak looked at eachother, exchanging confused expressions, then shrugged and giggled to eachother.

"But HOO BOY, WHAT A RUSH!" She said breathlessly, twirling around in the air.

"Uh, Flora, I know you're happy about the plant, but…shouldn't we get going to the next place?" Kat asked shyly.

"Oh! Right! Uh…Tree Village, off we go! You keep the plant, Tak. I'm sure you can keep it safe." Flora said, as she patted Tak's shoulder, and handed him the plant. She then transformed into her pretty green ball of light, and wooshed off to the exit. "I'll meet you two back at the village!" She called out to the two.

They looked at eachother and nodded, then rushed off to the exit trailing behind Flora. Once they reached the steps going down from the tomb, Kat stopped Tak for a moment and shushed him. They both looked over to the melon tree, and saw the ram he'd lured to it earlier, pleasantly plump and content in his melon induced coma.

They both stifled laughter, and ran off, shortly getting to the bone lift that would take them back to the village.

Little did they know, someone was watching from the shadows.

"Hrrgh…it seems the first plant failed to kill the boy. I may have to step up my plan."

"Don't worry about it, boss! We placed stronger curses on the other plants. Right bro?"

"Mmmeh! Enf uff heh gushm cugh muhrr, meerf muh nuh shmucksh unnuh duh flrr!"

"Uh…he said 'And if he gets close enough, it might just smack him into the floor!' Or something like that…"

"Well, it looks like you two _aren't _completely useless after all…."

"Hey, Kat," Tak asked. "Do you ever get the feeling you're being watched?"

"No…why do you ask?"

"Eh, just curious…" Tak mused as the lift carried them both back up.

A/N: What did I go on hiatus for again? Pfft…I barely know, myself. But whatever, it's back again! Tell me how you liked this chapter, rate, review, all that good stuff! Oooh, and guess who's watching our heroes! Huuhuuhuu!

My opinion: I dunno why, but I feel as if some parts were dragged out for too long, and the plant fight was too short. Maybe the next plant fight will be better! Well, we'll find out in the next chapter!


	5. Chapter 4: We're halfway there!

Tak and Kat quickly stepped and floated out of the bone lift, to see Flora lounging in air once again. She looked at them and winked.

"Yeah, Burial Grounds was kinda creepy, huh?" Both of them nodded, looking at eachother with tired expressions. "Well, don't worry. I know another place we can find another plant! Alright, you two. Either of ya know the way to Tree Village?" She giggled.

Both of them shook their heads. They sighed, feeling as if they'd disappointed Flora. But in return, she actually let out a happy squeal.

"COOL! That way, you can get to see a new place on your adventure! C'mon, follow me! It's just up this way!" Surprisingly enough, Flora didn't transform into her glowing green ball. She stayed in her regular form and kept motioning for them to come along with her.

"So, what's Tree Village like, Flora?" Tak asked, out of curiosity as he polevaulted up onto a higher ledge.

"It's a really nice village. It's up really high, all of the people live in treehouses, and most of them are really nice people. You're going to love it, really." Flora looked at Tak, who was looking a little concerned.

"Uhm…h-how high up is it?" Tak asked with a slight stutter.

Flora looked at him with a sarcastic disappointed look. "Afraid of heights? Don't worry. The bridges around the place are very sturdy, and haven't been known to fall apart! Ever! Just don't look down."

"Well, there's a first time for everything…" Tak grumbled under his breath.

Kat suddenly flew ahead of the other two, and swatted away a few, odd, purple, rat-looking creatures. One of them latched onto one of her mechanical arms with its teeth.

"ACK! F-FLORA! GET IT OFF!" Kat screamed. Flora instantly floated over, pulled it off of Kat's apparently delicious metal arm, and tossed it to Tak.

"Hit it!" She screamed as the disoriented creature flipped about in the air. Tak gasped, and shielded himself with the newly acquired staff, waving it around in the air. It managed to hit the creature, turning it into lilac colored smoke.

"What…was that?" Tak and Kat asked simultaneously.

Flora sighed and explained.

"Those things are called Nerbils. Normally, they aren't this close to the village. Maybe all the strange stuff happening is scaring them. They seem a little crazy, and somewhat angry, as if they're…starving. Maybe some of their food got taken away due to the overpopulation of sheep. Hm…who knows…"

"Maybe that's why one of them tried to eat my arm…" Kat groaned, pointing to the four puncture wounds in her upper mechanical arm.

Flora shrugged, an uncertain smile on her face, and led them further up the cliffs, until they reached another lift. This time, it wasn't made out of bones, but thatched together with thin plant leaves, and held together with sturdy, petrified sticks. Tak stepped onto it, with Flora floating beside him.

"Well, to the Tree village we go!" Flora said, cheerfully, as the lift started.

"Wait, Flora, aren't we forgetting something?" Tak asked as he pointed downwards.

Flora suddenly felt the cheerful look on her face disappear, and mouthed 'Oh, crap.'

"YOU GUYS!" Went a high pitched scream as the floating TV tried to keep up with the lift. She finally floated up, onto the lift, and shot Flora a dirty look. "Ok, that was NOT nice. AT ALL." She growled through gritted teeth.

"Sorry…" The nymph shrugged and looked at her with apologetic eyes. Kat still had the angry look on her face, but decided to forgive Flora.

"Maybe you just got a little too excited, but still. First, I almost get an arm torn off, then, you blatantly forget me on your adventure? Sorry, but due to my standards, it'll be a while before I _really_ forgive you."

Flora looked down, feeling rather dumb for making her new friend angry, but her spirits lifted back up again as the TV placed a hand on her shoulder.

"But, hey, can't stay mad at you forever!"

Tak, unbeknownst to them, had already run off after the lift stopped.

"Guys!" he called out, with a worried voice. "I think you might want to see this…"

Flora floated out and joined Tak. Her jaw suddenly dropped as she saw the state Tree Village was in.

"Tak…I'm not seeing any people here…maybe all the Tree Villagers have been turned into sheep as well…that's so sad!" Flora looked as if she was about to cry. "These people are so peaceful! Nothing bad should ever happen to them!" She sighed and held her arms tightly, as if trying to comfort herself. She looked upwards, and gasped. "Look! She said, suddenly happy again. "The Nubu Plant is right in front of us!"

Tak backed up a bit. "Yeah, but the bridge is out! How are we gonna get to it?"

Flora pressed her finger to her chin, and went back into her 'thinking mode'. "Well, from Fauna's stories, she said that, in case the bridges ever wore out, she made little emergency travel things. Ropes, ziplines, sheep-powered bridges, whatever you can think of!"

Kat looked around for a bit, and noticed a green rope above her. She followed it, and it lead to the platform with the Nubu plant. "Hey!" She said, triumphantly. "We could use that zipline to get there!"

"Yeah, I guess," Tak replied. "But how're we gonna reach it when it's up on the roof?"

Flora giggled. "Don't you know things in an adventure come through when you work hard for them? You're just gonna have to find a way up there yourself!" Both the boy and the box-girl sighed, but decided that was probably the best thing.

He looked to his left, and there were a few platforms he could easily jump onto, so he headed straight for them. Once they both reached the inside of the building, they looked around for a way onto the other side of it. There were more leafy platforms they could see through the door, but no easy way across, since both side paths were guarded by nerbils galore.

"Well, this won't be easy…" Kat groaned. Tak shifted his feet around, feeling something like small needles pricking at his heels. He looked down, and picked up a small handful of acorns.

He pondered for a bit, looking at his staff. Suddenly Flora had an idea.

"Hey, you know what?" She piped up, causing Kat to jump. "You could shoot down all the nerbils with the acorns. Just stick them in the other side of your staff, and use them like blowdarts!"

He smiled mischeviously, and began to strike down the entire platoon of nerbils on the right side of the rafters with his new use of the staff.

Flora smiled and clapped for him. "Good job!" She chirped.

"Thanks, now let's get moving." He replied. "We've got to get that plant."

Tak carefully stepped along the thin rafters on the right side of the building, keeping an eye on the nerbils on the other side of the rafters, making sure they didn't come over to their side.

Kat realized that some of the nerbils looked a little different than the regular maroon. Some were yellow, and some even cyan in hue. Without warning, she saw a yellow one suddenly sprout wings and head straight for them.

Flora screamed, "Kat! It's coming at you!" Kat's contraption didn't move. Flora looked nervous, her vision switching between the airborne monster, and Kat, frozen in fear. Tak was covering his head, in fear the nerbil would run towards him.

Kat was pressing random buttons on her power conductor, and all of a sudden, one of her box's mechanical hands swiped out in front of her, and burnt the nerbil to a crisp.

Kat gasped, moving her mechanical hands in front of her, trying to figure out how she did that, as Flora and Tak took notice of the nerbils on the other side of the rafters, even some of the flying ones, cowering, and looking at Kat with fear clearly shown in their bulging eyes. Flora smiled in surprise, and Tak began laughing, about as awestruck as his nymph-like friend was.

"H-how did you do that?!" Flora asked, breathless from the shock.

Kat was almost worried about what her hands…well, artificial hands had done.

"I…I don't know… She stammered, clearly shocked as well. "I just pressed a few buttons and…woosh! Flame city."

"Well," Tak giggled. "That just might come in handy!" He cleared his throat. "Now, let's get moving! That plant isn't gonna harvest itself!"

After a few more tricky platforms, sheep treadmills, and rafter balancing, they'd reached the zipline, or more specifically, where the zipline would be. It had snapped, from where it was tied to the tree.

Flora stood there, in awe, and slight disgust that it didn't hold out for as long as it did. Kat was examining it a bit closer, and figured out that the vine didn't snap.

"It was…CUT!" She growled, about as disgusted as Flora was, about who would do such a thing. Her disgust was turned to surprise, when a branch suddenly came down, separating her and Flora.

Flora suddenly smiled, and floated over to Tak. "Wow!" She cheerfully exclaimed. "Look at that Orangutan bend that banana tree!" The red-orange furred creature then plucked a banana from the tree, and ate it whole. "I bet if you stood on the big leaf, he could fling you somewhere! Maybe try standing near him?"

"Well, it's worth a try…" Tak stepped near the Orangutan, whom in turn, looked at him in confusion. He waved awkwardly, then, the orangutan growled at him, picked him up by his head, and slammed him on the ground. A rather loud "GYAH!" was heard from Tak as his rear collided with the bark under the thatched roof.

"Never traveled by leaf before," He groaned, "But I'm sure it never felt like THAT!" Tak got up and began to walk away, but not until he tripped over a big ball of wool.

Flora pressed a finger to her chin again, and began to speak. "Maybe-"

"Carry the sheep on your back so the Orangutan will fling both you and the sheep over to the plant?" Kat completed the sentence for her.

Flora looked a little insulted. "I was gonna say that!" She snapped back, and gave Kat a rather mean look.

Kat shrugged and gave a feigned apology, since she had no clue why Flora got so mad at her.

"Worth a try, I guess…" Tak replied as he lifted the sheep onto his back. Groaning a little, since this sheep was particularly heavy, he struggled to move his feet onto the leaf.

However, he didn't even have to, since the primate picked him up with strength and tossed both him and the sheep onto the ready-to-spring branch, letting go and launching them away.

Even though white was all around him, a cool but harsh wind hit his feet as he twirled about in the air. Spinning, whirling, floating. Flying. He was flying. He shut his eyes tight and was smiling in pure glee as the world around him seemed to disappear as he tumbled through the open air. Well, at least until he landed on the top of a rather tall plateau.

Hitting the ground wasn't too much of his problem at that point, since the fluff broke his fall. He crawled out of the overturned sheep, and finally realized how dizzy he was. He fell back onto his rump as his doubled vision slowly made its way back into one solid view.

In front of him was the nubu plant.

"Yes!" he thought to himself as he made a 'fist-pump' gesture. He waved to Kat and Flora who were already flying towards him.

"So," Flora started. "Gonna get that plant?" Tak in response, nodded, and braced himself. He stepped up to the plant and pulled out his club. The plant came alive, grinned, and sprouted a vine from its back. "Oh, jeez!" Flora winced as the vine almost hit Tak as he scrambled backwards.

"Tak! Be brave! No fear, Tak, no fear!" Kat shouted to him. He smiled, looked back and nodded. He then turned to face the plant again, his expression hardened into determination. The Nubu Plant began its attack pattern.

The vine swung around the ground, rather wildly as the plant sat on its…well…roots, with its hands on its hips, still wearing that stupid, smug grin. Tak jumped every time the plant's vine nearly touched its feet, dodging it perfectly.

The vine was sucked back in, and Tak ran up to attack it. He saw the plant recoiling and thought of the white light attack that sent him flying last time.

He was frantic, but pulled the staff out just in time to vault himself high over the plant's head, and it's floor-covering attack. As he landed, he looked happily at the staff, as if thanking it.

"Well, when in doubt, take the stick out!" He said to himself. He suddenly heard "VINE!" from a voice sounding like Flora and leaped again, dodging it.

Tak panted and groaned, "This plant just doesn't want to quit!" He breathed out, trying to harden his resolve to get that flower. Running towards the plant, he screamed again, smacking the flower twice before he had to jump again.

Leaping again with the staff, he was only a few hits away, leaping around, dodging vines, and smacking it whenever he got the chance. He leapt into the air once again, then, quickly got his club out, delivering the plant to the same fate as the last one.

Flora and Kat cheered for him as he gently plucked the flower from the monster Nubu plant's mouth and handed it to Flora. She smiled at him and giggled.

"Great job, Tak! Although…it seems like the Nubu plants are getting tougher. They still never did this before, so it's creeping me out a little."

Both Tak and Kat nodded as the three of them rushed back to the leaf-made lift.

"_Ohh…DRAT! THOSE THREE DID IT AGAIN! It's that strange girl in the box that's been helping him this whole time!"_

"_Well, what about that slinky green nymph followin' 'im aroun'? Ain't she also involved in dis mess?"_

"_Srmfrn lrk duhrr…"_

"_He says 'Somethin' like that…'"_

"_You two really need to listen to me this time. Actually make the plants TOUGH! Not just a little tougher than last time! I want them to try and actually be aggressive. Not just defensive! Those vines and energy blasts are the Nubus' ways of defending themselves against the common Nerbil! Do you think that boy is a common Nerbil?"_

"_N—No sir!"_

"_Nh-uh!"_

"_He agrees."_

"_I see. Now, I'm sending you two off to Dry Canyon. Remember, AGGRESSIVE!"_

"_Right away boss!"_

*pit-pat-pit-pat-pit-pat*

"Hey, Tak," Flora asked. "Do you hear something? It sounds kinda like footsteps."

"It's probably just a sheep or something. Let's get back to the village." Tak replied as the three got onto the lift."

"_Whussuh huvuh beh shuh scur'h?"_

"_It's not that he's scary. Just…assertive and serious."_

A/N: WOO! SPRING BREAK! WE JUST WROTE THIS CHAPTER! Well, now that Tak got the plant in tree village, he's going to Dry Canyon next, according to the conversation by the mysterious watchers! Since school's coming back soon, I can't really write much, but, whatever. I'll try to get this done in the spare time I have not working on other silly things for my personal life XD.


	6. Chapter 5: The Grand Canyon

Flora, Tak and Kat used the lift to get back into the Pupanunu village. Flora, seeming rather impatient, began tapping her feet, wishing the lift would go a little faster.

"Is there something wrong, Flora?" Kat asked. Flora turned to her and shook her head no, but still had the annoyed look on her face. When the lift stopped, all three got back onto the sturdy ground of the village clifftops. After getting back to ground level, Flora pointed them in the direction of where they needed to go.

"Well, there are still 2 plants that we need to get." Flora started as she floated along, following the young boy and his box companion. "We haven't explored the other side of the village yet, so why don't we go there, next?"

"Sounds like a plan!" Tak agreed instantly. Kat nodded in agreement. "I've always wanted to see Dryrock Canyon and Chicken Island. Jibolba talks about them a lot. Especially him and his old friend playing pranks on the rams in Dryrock."

They suddenly stopped at what looked like a wooden wall. "Oh no!" Flora gasped. "Th-that wall wasn't there before!" Flora looked flustered and anxious, not knowing what to do, but suddenly heard a voice calling for her.

"Flora!"Shouted the voice. It sounded an awful lot like Flora's voice, but a bit more gruff and almost 'meaner' sounding. "Flora, get over here! Some of the sheep are trying to escape the corral!"

"Uh…Tak! I-I have to go right now! This is the way to Chicken Island and Dryrock Canyon…uh…I'll meet back up with you once you find a way around this wall." Flora quickly said.

"FLORA!" The voice screamed, obviously angry. "GET YOUR LEAF COVERED ASS OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!"

"ALRIGHT FAUNA! Jeez, that sister of mine." Flora turned into her seafoam green ball form and flew to the other side of the wall.

"Great…" Tak groaned. "Now how are we gonna get over there?" He looked towards Kat in hope for help, but she was a little too preoccupied with a poorly written sign.

**WE KNO WAT U R DOEING **

**AND WE DON'T LIEK IT AT **

**ALL SO STAY AWAY TAK!**

**- P&N**

"Well then!" Tak exclaimed. "Someone seems to be conspiring against us!"

Kat growled, pointing at the sign. "Yeah, just what we flippin' need. Rather _literate_ chaps, too, _don't you think?_" Kat said, drawing out her words to hint at sarcasm. "But…who are 'P&N'? I know these vandals would like to remain anonymous, but still…who do you think they are, Tak?"

"Well, the only thing I can think of is these two sentient voodoo dolls that like to cause trouble in the village a lot." Tak laughed to himself a little as he went on. "I mean, of course they'd love to cause a lot of trouble because they were made by…"

Tak suddenly stopped. The identity of their conspirator hit him harder than lightning.

"…T'laloc."

Tak suddenly became terribly angry. "I should've KNOWN! T'laloc doesn't want us to complete the prophecy because of our part IN IT!" With that, Tak punched the wall. It didn't do much though. In fact, it injured him more than he thought it would. Biting his lip to suppress his pained scream, Tak pulled his hand away from the wooden poles and examined his bleeding knuckles.

"Aww…Tak!" The cat girl sympathetically whined. "Control your temper, young one. It won't do you any good, in fact, you'll end up hurting yourself even more." Suddenly, a loud huffing noise drew their attention to something behind them.

"What was that?" Tak asked, holding his bleeding hand.

"I dunno, but it came from over there. Wanna go see?" Kat asked, motioning him to follow. Tak nodded, and they ran up to a cage, with something that looked like animal skin topping it off.

Tak looked through the thin slits between the wooden bars, and a blue eye surrounded by wrinkled skin next to a large horn stared back at him, as if pleading, 'Get me out of this cage!'

"That's a rhino!" Tak exclaimed. "I bet he could get us through the gate!"

"Yeah, that's true…" Kat pondered. "But how will we get him out of this gate?" She was then distracted by a small ook-ing noise up in a tree nearby. A tiny white monkey with its tail furling into a spiral and out as it sat leisurely on a branch, examining a large coconut it held.

Tak suddenly climbed up onto the top of the cage, balancing on the thin, but sturdy hide, and fumbled for his bag of acorns he took from Tree Village. Oddly enough, it was full to the brim, even though he used about 20 of them taking out Nerbils earlier. It perplexed him a bit, but he stuck one into the other end of his staff, anyways.

"Tak, wait-!" Kat called out, but Tak had already shot the acorn at the now angry primate. It tossed the coconut just as Tak leapt down onto the other side of the cage. The coconut blasted the cage open, and as the smoke cleared, Tak saw the rhino shaking itself free of the ropes that held it down, and almost smiling at Tak. However, Tak also noticed he was sitting on Kat, who was pinned onto the ground by his weight.

As he got off, giving her a sheepish smile, she looked at him angrily, and shook her head.

"Tak," Kat growled through gritted teeth. "I know I'm supposed to be your protector, but if I was you, I'd never do that again. Any questions?" Tak quickly shook his head no. Kat nodded in response, and watched Tak leap onto the Rhino's back.

"A-Are you sure you should be doing that?" Kat said nervously. Tak just smiled at her.

"I've rode these before." Tak responded with a confident smile. "Jibolba taught me how. It's actually pretty easy!" He smacked the side of the rhino with his club, and the rhino suddenly began charging at the gate.

Kat quickly picked up pace, and she was just behind Tak when the first gate, and the badly written sign, smashed to bits. She cheered as Tak smashed through gate after gate, finally reaching the other side of the village.

Upon reaching the other side, the two were greeted by Flora ushering a pair of sheep into the corral, joining about 5 others. At her side, another girl floated by, cradling a chicken in her arms. She looked much like Flora, except red, and with much shorter, unruly, and spiky hair.

Flora turned to the red girl, and in turn, the girl thanked Flora, and set the chicken down, gently. Flora floated over to the duo, and introduced the other girl.

"That over there, is my twin sister, Fauna. I told you about her already, Kat." Fauna then floated up to them.

"Obviously, we're fraternal. I mean, you can see that just by lookin' at us." Fauna then laughed, and said, "I'm sure you'll be wanting her back as your guide. She told me all about what you guys were doing." Fauna then met eyes with Kat, and was a little mesmerized.

"Whozzat?" She asked Flora.

Flora shrugged, and said, "She just calls herself Kat. I think she's a Juju, but I'm not sure…"

Fauna examined her closely. "Never saw her before, but that face…eh, probably nothing." Fauna then floated back to the sheep.

"Alright," Flora said. "Enough chat-chitting. It's time to set off for Dry Canyon!"

Kat looked at her oddly. "Don't you mean chit-chatting?" She asked. Flora giggled and shook her head.

"It doesn't matter how ya say it! I just flip things around a little!" All three of them got onto the lift, looking like it went on a line, like a skytram.

"Dryrock's just a few minutes from here. If we take this tram, we can get there quicker." Flora explained. She pressed a button by her side, and the tram moved along the line. As they went along, Tak could feel the air becoming significantly hotter and drier.

As they stepped off the tram, Tak was greeted by a strange looking cactus that has bright green swellings all over it. Out of curiosity, Tak reached over and poked one of them.

Before the others could object, it burst, and Tak's already injured hand was covered with a slimy green substance that burned. He screamed and wiped it off quickly, as the rest of the cactus's lumps leapt off and shot straight at the trio.

They moved back quickly, panting, and Flora took observation of the rocky desert.

"Ugh…Dryrock is _not _a friendly place. The rams are grumpy, the cacti explode, and all the residents left a long time ago." Kat looked worried at her statement.

"Yeah," the box-girl replied. "Let's not spend any time here more than we have to."

Tak nodded in agreement, and the three set off for the elusive Nubu plant.

Kat spotted it several yards away. "Look!" She exclaimed. "In the Oasis! B-By the waterfall!"

"Good eyes, Kat!" Flora complimented her with a thumbs-up. "But how are we going to get over there? It's too far to jump…" She looked a little lower. "…and a ram is guarding the entrance." Tak rubbed his arm subconsciously.

"Hmm…maybe if I'm fast enough…I could use my Staff!" Tak said, pulling it out.

"Well," Flora mused. "It's…worth a try! But remember, we're here if you need any help."

Tak nodded and polevaulted as strongly as he could across the small pit. He landed swiftly, but on the same ledge the ram was on. Tak looked at the ram, its burning eyes staring at Tak, almost as if through his soul, and looked ready to charge.

Tak took no chances and polevaulted again, onto the upper ledge, mere feet away from the Nubu plant. Kat and Flora flew over to him, cheering for him, achieving what they thought was impossible.

"Ok," Kat said. "Now, just do what you did before, come up with a strategy if it does something different, and get the plant so we can get out of here. Good luck." Tak nodded and walked up to the plant, taking out his club and holding it at the ready.

The plant sprouted up, much like last time, but instead of just clawing at Tak, it flung slime at him from his hands. Tak recognized it as the same acidic substance the cactus tossed at him. He dodged most of it, but one shot caught him on his shoulder, and he screamed in pain, falling backwards.

Once he hit the water, the substance neutralized and slipped off his arm. He looked at the odd burn it gave him, and got back up. He leapt with all his might, and smacked the plant across its face.

It recoiled again, and Tak flipped backwards, landing on his rump, as the plant's shockwave tore through the water, sending a wave in Tak's direction. Not only that, but a spiked vine shot out, scratching Tak on his right leg, making him groan in pain, as it slunk back, dragging the thorns across his skin.

Tak stood up, unsteady and a bit shaky, and held up his club, again. The, now two, vines circled around the plant much like the singular one from before. Tak knew his strategy.

Jump.

Run.

Jump.

Run.

Jump.

SMACK!

The creature roared again, and this time, Tak wasn't ready. He was flung backwards, out of the water, and sat there, weakened and severely injured, as the plant and the Nerbils stood there, laughing.

Kat was enraged.

She pressed another button combination on her power coordinator, and her mechanical hands shot out fire streams, incinerating the plant at its roots.

The crumbling ashes made the plant collapse, mouth agape, and flower in the open air. Kat quickly plucked it with her metallic claws, and turned back to Flora, tending to a suffering Tak's wounds.

Tak was panting, trying to regain his strength as the young nymph healed him slowly but surely, even healing the old would he had from punching the wooden wall.

"You did good, Tak." She said, putting a metallic hand on the side of his face. "How do you feel?"

Flora lifted her hands away when she was done healing her friend, and he stood up, stretching. "Never better! Now, can we get out of here?"

Kat smiled and handed him the plant. "Sure."

A/N: It's 10:00 PM on a school night. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU oh well. Lol, I introduced Fauna in this game. I only did it because A) She was already mentioned, twice, and B) Tak seems to know her by the next game, so it must make sense he met her earlier. Ok, now, the next chapter, we'll be going to my favorite area, Chicken Island! Stay tuned, anyone who's still reading this! :D


	7. Chapter 6: EET MOR CHIKIN

A/N: Just a slight warning, before you start reading, the final part of this chapter is somewhat Kat centered.

A while after getting off the tram, the three jumped off, and took a look at the gigantic blimp off in the distance. Oddly enough, it was shaped like a chicken.

"Whew," Flora sighed. "Looks like it's time to get the final plant, guys!"

Tak stretched and yawned. "Finally! I was getting tired of this! So, where to next?"

"Hmm…let's see…"Flora mused, going through her imaginary checklist.

"We've been to Burial Grounds, Tree Village and Dryrock Canyon…all that's left is…"

"Chicken Island!" Both Kat and Flora said at the same time.

"And as if getting there wasn't obvious enough!" Tak said, pointing at the blimp.

"Alright, you two. Let's get moving!" Flora said as she transformed into her light-ball form. "Let's get that plant!"

All three of them reached the path to the balloon, and with a bit of tricky platforming, were able to get near the blimp. However, someone was standing there, waiting for them.

"Oh, good morning, Hamish!" Flora chirped at the man standing by the blimp. "Put on guard duty today, huh?"

Hamish nodded. "Yeah, mainly because of almost everyone else being turned into sheep. A few on the Island and the ones patrolling the temples are ok. But everyone else…eh…"

"Aw, sorry, Hamish." Flora said with a frown. "By the way, can we use the blimp?"

"Oh, of course! But I must warn you…" Hamish whispered to them. "There were three others leaving from Dryrock going here, and they haven't left since."

Flora put a finger to her chin, making a mental note. Kat and Tak looked at eachother, almost mentally warning eachother that it might be their conspirators.

"Alright." Kat finally said. "We'll watch out for them!" The three stepped into the balloon and flew to the obvious Island.

"Now guys," Flora started as they floated across the air. "Chicken Island is home to people who worship chickens!"

Tak gaped, and Kat tried to hold in her giggle.

"Mmhmm, they do." Flora said flatly. "It's mostly made up of many little islands. The area's also filled with air and water geysers, so watch where you step!"

"Ok, thanks. I'll keep that in mind." Tak said, acknowledging what Flora said to him. He turned his head to the front of the blimp, and saw land rising into view. "Hey," he informed them. "I think this is it!"

Flora clapped her hands together. "Alright guys! We'll be arriving shortly!" She said with a sprightly tone to her voice. "Please keep your hands, arms, feet and legs inside the blimp at all times, until we've come to a safe landing."

It wasn't that much of a 'safe landing', however. The Blimp landed with a strong bump on the side of the cliff, and Tak was flung out of the passenger's carrier face-first. He could vaguely feel the small bag of regenerating acorns pricking his stomach after he got over the sensation of his nose being smashed. Kat floated out of the blimp and helped him up.

"You ok, Tak?" She asked in a sweet voice.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine…nose hurts a bit but it'll heal." Tak replied as she let go of his arms. They turned to see two men tethering down the blimp quickly.

"Thanks boys," Flora said, almost acting flirty. "But we'll only be a short while, so stand by!" The two men saluted her as she floated up to the others.

"You're known pretty much universally, huh?" Kat asked Flora as they floated next to eachother.

"Well, when you're a juju that controls plant life, you gotta make yourself known!" Flora replied with a slight giggle to her voice. "Now, I think the Nubu plant is…" She surveyed the island for a short while, until she came to her far left. "There!"

It was out on a small island of its own, standing like the others before it did. Tak could see it well from that side, and he took off for that plant, the other two following close behind.

Tak had to come to a sudden stop after a small bout of running. If he didn't, a spear would've impaled his skull.

"What's yer business here, you three?" A tall man with a large nose and what sounded like a thick southern accent asked the three.

"Vaelkorr!" Flora groaned, exasperated. "We're here to collect the Nubu plant! We need it for a cure to turn the others back into human form!"

"No can do, missy!" Valekorr said, shaking his head. Kat actually looked surprised. This was the first time someone disagreed with her.

"Someone's tampered with the durn plant. It tried to attack me with a flamin' coconut not 10 minutes ago! So, y'all best stay away from it, ya hear?" Flora looked almost insulted.

"Look here, sir. This young boy here," She said, pointing to Tak, "Has dealt with these kinds of plants before. Now, can we get through? We're wasting time!"

"Sorry missy," The guard replied. "It's mah duty to guard this plant to make sure nobody else…" He pointed his spear right at Kat's screen. "…tampers with it."

Kat glared. "Oh, just because I look weird, he suspects me. Real charming, duckweed."

Flora went to a different train of thought. _Funny…_I've_ called someone 'duckweed' before…_

"Alright," Kat said. "Flora, you and I can fly over the gates easily, but for Tak, it's a little tricky."

Tak smirked and looked at one of the sheep. He ran over to it and hoisted it over himself. "How about…a disguise?" He asked the two girls.

"Well then, Tak!" Flora said, impressed. "You're getting smarter! And you look just _dashing_ in white!" She joked.

"Why thank you, you're too kind, madam." Tak said, putting on a fake gentleman's voice. All three of them laughed for a few seconds, then Tak capped it off with "Alright, enough joking about. We gotta get to that plant!"

Flora and Kat nodded, floating over the gate. Tak just had to do his footing carefully.

Even though it took him about twice as long to get to the plant than it should have, it was worth it. The guard didn't even notice his feet under the sheep as he snuck in.

After the strange sheep bout, he finally was able to lift the sheep off his head. He was sweating profusely, since sheep and sun didn't mix too well.

Tak groaned with nervousness as he approached the plant. He sighed and tried to buck himself up.

"Alright…" he told himself. "Don't' worry, Tak. You can do this. No fear…no fear."

He walked toward the plant, waving his club, and the plant snapped awake. Tak was quick enough to get a good hit on it. He leapt back to escape the plant's blast, but after that, the plant shot out three small seeds.

Three monstrous, but much smaller plants sprouted up from the seeds' spots. Tak took them out easily, one hit for each one. However, the plant knew he got distracted, so he tossed a coconut, which was somehow on fire, straight at Tak.

Tak lifted up his club and swung it forward, splitting the coconut in half. The two halves still managed to burn his arms a little. He smacked the plant twice more, and dodged the plant's blast, and vines in the process. Tak ran back up to the plant, too quick for it to sprout more, but close enough in the range of his coconut.

It smacked Tak right in the chest and burst. Tak screamed, as he felt the blistering pain of the burn on his torso. Enraged and on an adrenaline rush from the pain, he slammed his fists down on the plant's head. The plant snapped under his strength, and let itself die, much like the three plants before it.

Finally, he was done. He had collected all four of the Nubu plants Jibolba required. He walked over to get the fourth and final one, plucked it from its stem, took a large whiff of it, and collapsed to the ground.

Kat screamed at the sight of the boy she was supposed to protect fall. She rushed to him, along with Flora, and they began checking him over for his injuries. Kat noticed the feather on his head had changed color. It was only partially yellow now. Most of it was purple.

"Flora," Kat panted from the anxiety. "What's with the feather?"

"It's enchanted. If it's yellow, he's healthy. If it's purple, he isn't feeling too well."

"Oh…"

Kat looked at the burn on her friend's chest, and felt guilty for not being able to protect him. She sighed, but then saw something amazing. The wound began to shrink, and his feather began filling back up with yellow.

"Oh, duh!" Flora suddenly said. "Nubu plants have healing powers! The smell he got must've had enough energy to heal him!"

Kat beamed, and as soon as Tak opened his eyes, she hugged him as tightly as her mechanical arms let her.

He obviously was hurting a bit from her tight hug, so he began slamming his hands on the sides of the box, begging her to let go. After about 5 seconds she finally let go, and looked at his face, almost tearfully happy.

Flora couldn't help but laugh a little at the scene, but then motioned them to follow her out. Tak put the plant in his satchel and followed her out through the gate. Thankfully, Valekorr wasn't looking their way. However someone else was…

_I never knew you two could be so incompetent. WHY IS THE BOY STILL ALIVE?!_

_W-We're sorry boss, he's just a li'l smarter than us is all! And faster._

_Brh wuh cuh shuhw hih whoo baush!_

_He says, 'But we can show him who's boss!'…er…right?_

_Mm-hm!_

_Ok. Now, let's go see if we can find where that Spirit Rattle is! If that old prune found Lok, he'd need the spirit rattle to get to him!_

_Ah, I see. Alright. We'll head straight for Tree Village after they leave._

"Ok boys! Un-tether it! We're going home!" Flora commanded the two young men standing by the blimp. The three hopped in, and when it was sent off, they began their long journey back to the village.

Once they reached solid ground, they began to make a beeline for Jibolba's hut, but not until they heard a thud behind them, and a strange voice.

"And just where do you think you're going?"

The trio turned around, and there was a tall, white haired young man standing right behind them.

"You!" Flora exclaimed. "I thought the Moon Juju had told you to stay clear of this village, let alone us!" She glared at the boy, but he didn't seem fazed at all.

"Hah, yes, I remember that, but your 'Mother' isn't here, now is she?" His smile grew on his face, only making Flora angrier.

Kat looked at the boy strangely for two reasons. One, because he had pure white hair, and two, because he had actually used air quotes when he made the 'mother' comment.

Flora made a noise that resembled a growl, but didn't even sound half-threatening. She waved her hand about and said, "Nyo, we've already had enough trouble here. We don't need you causing any more trouble."She was about to leave, but the young man spoke up again.

"Yes, trouble, I can see that. I mean, what's not to notice about fluffy, white balls of wool being a bit more in population than they should be?" He then leapt towards them like an animal, but landed perfectly on his feet. "I came over because I was feeling strong magic activity." He sighed, almost lovingly, and Flora felt as if she was going to be sick. "It's something I hadn't felt in years. Centuries, even. And it just…drew me here."

Kat finally decided she didn't want to hear his voice anymore, and tried to stand up to him.

"Uh, Nyo, right…? You heard Flora the first time! Why don't you leave us alone? We've got a lot to deal with and…why aren't you wearing a shirt?" She pointed at his chest under the unzipped leather jacket he was wearing, but still not keeping her eyes off his face.

He finally noticed the girl, and looked in her direction. "Huh, don't think I've seen you before. What're you doing here?" At that, he made eye contact with her.

She froze for about five seconds, then fell to the ground, holding the sides of her box with her mechanical arms, as if she was suffering from a terrible headache. Flashes appeared in her head. She had no clue what any of them meant, but all of them involved the white haired boy.

"Uh, hello?" Nyo growled as he tried getting Kat's attention. She was stillon the ground, but at least trying to regain her bearings. She got up after a bit, and sort of struggled to keep afloat as she got back up.

Nyo had a very stern, yet somewhat unstable look on his face, as he tossed a stone up and down in his right hand, not even having to move his hand to catch it multiple times.

"I get rather impatient when I'm not answered." He said, in an almost scary, deadpan voice.

He then shouted, and chucked the rock straight at Tak's face. Kat quickly moved her hand in front of Tak's face and growled. "Not him, you duckweed."

Nyo laughed, a rather annoying sound, and leapt away, taking the form of a cloud of black smoke.

"Okay," Kat finally spoke up. "Who the hell WAS that nutjob?"

"He's Nyo," Tak started. "He has a full name, but it's pretty hard to pronounce. It's like, 'Nar-nee-OH-see' or something along those lines."

Flora corrected Tak's pronunciation. "It's actually 'Nar-NAI-ohs.' Narnyose. He doesn't like his full name, though, so everyone just calls him Nyo."

"Uh…y-yeah, what she said." Tak continued. "He's…I think the Juju of reflections and shadows. You'll know he's near if you look down and have two shadows."

Flora sighed. "He used to be more peaceful, and a bit more calm, but he kinda went a little loopy," She made a circular motion with her finger around the side of her head, "When his girlfriend disappeared."

"Lovelorn loss does things to ya, I guess…" Kat mused to herself.

"Yeah," Flora responded, not too interested in the conversation at the moment. "The Moon Juju wasn't very happy about her disappearance either. I mean, that girl was also her sister." Kat looked at Flora and smiled a little.

"Who was she, actually? Like, the Sun Juju or something?" Kat asked giggling a little.

"Yes, actually." Tak responded. Kat suddenly stopped laughing.

"That seems odd doesn't it? I mean, sun going with shadows? They're kinda opposites aren't they?"

"Not really," Flora explained. "They actually help each other out. 'Wherever the Sun shines, shade will be following.' Mother—I mean…the Moon Juju used to joke around saying that when Nyo kept following the Sun Juju around like she was his seeing-eye-dog."

Kat smiled with a sort of sad look in her eyes and patted Flora's shoulder. "You can call her 'mother' if you want."

Flora let her head hang, and she said, under her breath, "I know, but it'll just make me sad."

Kat suddenly frowned. "Oh, right. Sorry…hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure, that once Lok is back in his human form, he'll be able to find the Moonstones in due time!"

Flora quickly lifted her head back up and smiled. "You're right. C'mon, We've got to get back to Jibolba's hut and get him the plants for the transformation spell." She then transformed into her green light ball form and zipped off.

"We…should probably follow her. C'mon, Kat." Tak said as he stood up and motioned for Kat to follow him. He ran off right after Flora, but Kat still hovered there, a little confused. Reluctantly, she got back to following him, the previous events still rushing through her head.

_I know what his name is, his powers, I could even tell the fact that he's insane._

_But just…who is_ _he?_

A/N: I am SOOOO SORRY about kinda whoring out Kat in the end of this chapter, I just wanted to flush out a bit of a character important to her. Or _is _he? Haha, I won't tell until it's necessary! But whatever, I've finally got this bit up, and we're moving along quite smoothly! Expect to see a new chapter, possibly this weekend!


	8. Chapter 7: You've Got Spirit!

All three of them rushed into the small hut as quickly as possible. The sight of them was as a surprise to Jibolba, since he never expected them to return so quick.

"I have the herbs and spices, Jibolba!" Tak announced, detatching the satchel from his belt, and handing it to Jibolba. "How's Lok doing?"

"Lok, the 'Mighty Warrior' has been MINDLESSLY eating grass, and…leaving little PELLETS all over the floor of my hut!" Jibolba shouted, obviously annoyed. He then shrugged, and added, "So…I guess he's doing okay for a sheep."

He pulled out the plants Tak collected, and he had a perfect amount.

"You did well, Tak!" Jibolba exclaimed, as he brought the plants over to the sheep wearing the amulet. "Now, I can perform the transformation spell and bring him back!" The shaman then proceeded to pluck the petals off the flowers, and place them on top of the sheep's head.

"Strange rituals for spells they have here, Flora." Kat whispered to her fern-covered friend.

"Oh no, it's nothing compared to what they use for practicing dark magic." Flora responded, under her breath.

After Jibolba finished the petal sprinkling, he began chanting. "O'maka hou…e-be-blou…tou kfah-" But he was cut off before the final word by a small explosion. What the four of them saw in place of the sheep was a short, tubby young boy, still chewing on the grass he was eating before he turned back into human.

"Wait, a minute…" Kat began as she looked at the young man.

"This isn't Lok!" Jibolba exclaimed. "That's Tobar! Lok's squire!"

"At least the transformation spell works! Tobar," Tak asked. "Can you tell us what happened to Lok?"

Tobar said nothing. In fact, all he did was just bleat like a sheep.

"Uh…Jibolba…" Tak asked with an unsure look on his face. "You…sure you did that spell right?"

"Of course I did! You mean he wasn't always like this?" Jibolba whispered.

"Tak," he continued. "You must go to the tree village and find their shaman! If he's been turned into a sheep, you need to fetch his spirit rattle! We will need it!" He then handed Tak a small stone, looking like it was carved into a Baobab tree. "Take this charm. It will allow you to enter the shaman's tree. And while you're gone, I'll find out where Lok is."

"Ok! I'm on my way, Jibolba!" But he was stopped before his first step out of the door.

"Oh, and Tak," Jibolba was about to request one more thing. "If the shaman HAS been turned into a sheep, and he has any nice Shamana jewelry you think would look good on me…" However, all three of the adventurers gave him a nasty look when he opened his eyes.

"Augh…n-never mind." Jibolba said, obviously embarrassed. "Well, go on then!" He said, ushering the three out of his hut.

"Well, you know the way, Tak!" Flora said. He smiled and held up the charm as they rushed towards Tree Village.

"Strange…" Tak said as he lightly stepped through the treehouse. "The entire place looks empty."

"Did he move?" Flora said, looking around.

"There isn't any furniture! I think he took the Spirit rattle, too!" Kat groaned, her mechanical arms drooping.

"Wrong! Look, it's right there!" Tak exclaimed, tugging on one of Kat's arms.

Both Kat and Flora laughed, as she lightly shoved Tak ahead to run to get it. Tak would've ran all the way, until he froze once his foot touched what he was sure was skin.

All three of them looked down, horrified, and as Tak lifted his foot up, he realized he stepped on the Tree Village's shaman. The shaman's eyes were wide open, and it looked like his hand was pointing towards the Spirit Rattle.

Tak screamed and leaped back about three feet. "Wh-wh-what the heck…why…who…i-is he…?" he stuttered.

Flora then turned towards him with a horrified face. "Yeah, he's dead…question is…who did it?"

Suddenly, laughter resonated in the room. It almost sounded like three voices echoing throughout the room. Then, three puffs of smoke appeared in the air. From the smoke, three figures materialized. A tall, old man wearing a horned skull on his head, and two, much smaller, stitched up voodoo dolls.

"Jibolba's errand boy thinks he can just reach out and take that?" The old man rhetorically asked. He then chuckled. "That's pathetic."

One of the voodoo dolls spoke up.

"Lemme show 'im how wrong 'e is T'laloc!"

The other doll tried to speak, but all that came out was a muffled mess.

"Mrrbrr…muh…brbrrbrmrmrr…snuurrr!"

"Needles says 'e can take 'im out all by 'imself!"

"Uh cuh ruuuhurn huu!"

"Needles says 'e can take me on too! WELL COME AT IT LI'L MAN!"

Suddenly, the thinner voodoo doll slammed straight into the pudgier one, and a small slapfight initiated while the two were still floating in air. They fought for about 5 seconds until T'laloc stopped them.

"Pins! Needles!" He shouted. "You will BOTH stop Tak together!" He then muttered to himself, "Oh dear…afterwards, you can fight as much as you like."

The dark Shaman disappeared, and the two voodoo dolls dropped to the floor, faceplanting. They quickly got up, smiled evilly, and ran to opposite sides of the room. Tak tried to keep both of them in his sights. He decided to run for the thinner one, even though he was fastest.

The two dolls ran crazily around the room, carrying a ball of light with them. Tak, unknowingly picking one up too, kept chasing after Needles. He smacked Needles with his club, but then shut his eyes tight as he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head.

"YAARGH!" He shouted as his hand quickly reached where he was hit. He turned just in time to see Pins cackle and run away to get another lightball. Then, Tak felt something strange. He thought he could've imagined it, but his head was beginning to swell.

"Uh…Tak?" Flora commented. "You don't look so good…"

Kat, noticing the panic on the scene, quickly grabbed Flora's wrist.

"Flora! We gotta get to higher ground. We don't want our heads ballooning, do we?"

"I…I guess not…" Flora replied.

"Well come on then!" Kat shouted as she almost dragged Flora closer to the ceiling.

Back on the floor, Tak noticed the ball of light in his hand. He smiled and tossed it in front of him. It hit Needles right where his nose would be.

Needles groaned in pain and held his face as his head became double its original size.

Pins growled at Tak and chucked a ball of light at him. Thankfully, Tak ducked out of the way before it could hit him. The three of them cycled around the room once again, looking for the balls of light to grab.

Flora and Kat watched the scene nervously, their eyes darting around the three opponents.

"Yee-owch! This doesn't seem to be going too well…" Kat commented as Tak got hit once again, after about 3 more rounds of light shooting.

Pins smiled, his grin clearly visible on his enlarged head. Tak grabbed another ball of light, but as he took aim at Pins, Needles shot straight at Tak. Tak fell back on his rear, and the light flew out of his hand.

Tak groaned, holding his head, which had gotten considerably heavier. He could barely hear Flora calling for him through the sound of fluids sloshing around in his head.

"Be careful, Tak! One more hit and your head will be history!" She screamed in alarm. Kat felt her stomach flipping about at what Flora said.

"Nice shot, Needles!" Pins exclaimed, Needles smiled, about as much as one with a stitched-up mouth could, but the moment was cut short as soon as Pins' head burst, small pieces of fabric hanging on Needles' shocked face.

Tak grinned and grabbed another light ball. In Needles' shock, he was able to get the final shot on him. His head burst as well, and the enchantment on the arena disappeared.

Tak laid flat on the ground, relieved that the battle was finally over. He let his head slowly deflate, as whatever strange liquid that was in his head from the light balls poured out from his ears. Flora and Kat flew down to him, and lifted him up, trying to steady him.

"Guys, I'm fine, really!" Tak said. "I just had a weird experience with the head ballooning, is all."

"Well, at least now you can get the Spirit Rattle!" Flora said, gleefully. "Go ahead, and we can get back to Jibolba!"

"Alright then!" Tak said, casually walking towards the Spirit Rattle, looking almost as if it was floating in midair, clearly showing off its magical properties.

"This boy…" T'laloc said, watching from the rafters. "He's unlike anyone I've ever fought before. He's managed to escape the morphing spell, and now he's foiled my plans more than once. But not anymore." T'laloc charged up a spell, using his staff as a conductor. "Goodbye, little boy." He growled, with a menacing smile on his face. He launched the spell.

Kat felt a chill go down her spine as she heard the voice. She turned and saw T'laloc standing on the rafters.

Tak had already gotten the Spirit Rattle, and was examining it in his hands. But Kat witnessed T'laloc launching the magic blast, and she screamed.

Flora and Tak looked in her direction as she flew towards them quickly. Suddenly, an explosion sounded out, and the three found themselves trapped in a cloud of smoke.

Flora began to cough, trying to clear the smoke away from her face. "Tak! T-Tak! Are you ok!"

"Yeah!" He coughed twice. "I'm ok! Where's Kat?"

The smoke began to dissipate from around them, and they looked around frantically for their friend. Flora's heart sank when she saw the television split in half, wires still sparking, mechanical arms twitching. She tugged on Tak's arm to get his attention, but he was fixated on something to the right of the shattered box. Flora looked in the direction he was facing, and there was Kat, somehow outside the box, in a full-bodied form. She struggled to get up, dirt all over her face and clothes, and looked around, terribly dizzy, still clutching her 'power stick'.

"No way…" She groaned, looking up at the rafters. "Didja two see where he went?"

Tak and Flora just stared in awe.

"Whassamater guys? Did either of you see where T'laloc disappeared off to?" She was soon able to sit up, patting the smooth wooden floor underneath her hands.

"...OH DAMN."

She looked towards the shattered box and almost began crying. She just stared at it, mouth quivering, as she finally deduced that the blast is what sent her out of it.

Tak walked over to Kat and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm…I'm sorry…" He said.

"Tak," Kat whispered, still facing away from him. "It's not your fault. I don't need this thing." She turned towards him, smiled, and stood up. She was almost a foot and a half taller than Tak, and Flora floated over to get a better look at her face.

"Now, guys, what are we supposed to do about that corpse?" Kat asked the group.

The two snapped out of their awe-made trance, and asked her what she had just said.

"Uhm…cadaver?" She asked again.

Tak scratched his head, and both him and Flora stayed silent.

"Uh, THE DEAD BODY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FLOOR?!" She raised her voice and pointed to the Tree Village Shaman's body.

"Oh!" Flora said, taken by surprise. "Uh…I should probably bring it to the Burial grounds, and hopefully, it'll get placed into its proper tomb by the Dead Juju. Kat, you should bring Tak back to Jibolba's hut and hopefully, he's found Lok."

"Thanks, Flora." Kat said, bowing her head, slightly. "Tak, you still got that charm? It's getting awful dark out, and you should be getting back to the hut."

Tak smiled and pulled the Baobab tree-shaped charm out. "Let's get going!"

Tak and his guardian ran as quickly as they could, and burst into the door of Jibolba's hut.

"I've got the Spirit Rattle!" Tak exclaimed. "It was really hard to get! I had to…" But then, he saw what Jibolba was looking over.

It was Lok. Lok was completely flattened out, dirty hoofprints all over his body, with a look of pure terror on his face,

"OH…GROSS! Is that…is that…Lok…?"

Jibolba sighed. "The mighty warrior himself! He's a quarter of an inch thick! He's a Pupanunu peoples' pancake…"

"Is he going to be ok?" Tak asked, sounding overwhelmed and anxious.

"No…" Jibolba said, gravely. "He is going to be the OPPOSITE of ok. Lok has moved on to the Spirit world!"

"But…that's not in the prophecy!" Tak argued.

"I know…" Jibolba mused. "I am very confused! The prophecy warned us that our people would be turned into sheep by the evil juju of T'laloc! The prophecy ALSO told us, a mighty warrior would save the Pupanunu people! But when Lok tried to calm them down, they crushed him like a bug!"

Both Tak and Kat winced at the thought of Lok getting trampled by dozens of sheep.

"Well, um, can we…un-crush him?" Tak asked, sounding a little uncertain.

"Bring Lok back from the dead? It's very diffcult, you know." Jibolba warned Tak.

"Well, I'll do it!" Tak replied.

"Tak, only a mighty warrior can do that!"

"We don't have a mighty warrior."

Jibolba finally gave up his arguments. Tak's resolve was hardened to save Lok so he could save them.

"Alright. Fine then. Now, the Sprit Rattle will grant you 'Juju Vision.' With it, you will be able to see the Tikis, and the Magic Yorbels throughout the world!" Jibolba explained. "You need to put Tikis into shrines to call upon other powerful Juju spirits for help. They may not want to all of the time, but if you call upon them, they MUST help you!"

Tak nodded, but then asked, "Well, how will I find Lok?"

"You will need to open an entrance into the Spirit World. Once inside, you will be able to fetch Lok's spirit." Jibolba continued. "And you must also collect at least one hundred magic Yorbels to make the resurrection spell work!"

Both of the adventurers' mouths dropped open in shock. "A HUNDRED MAGIC YORBELS?!" They asked simultaneously.

"Yes, don't complain." Jibolba said as if it was nothing. "When I was your age, it used to take TEN THOUSAND magic Yorbels to do a resurrection spell. That's probably why the jujus have put them all few and far between…"

"Lucky me…now if I only knew what a Yorbel was…" Tak said sarcastically.

"I know, I know. It seems like a lot to take in, but don't worry Tak. It may be easier than it seems, now that you have the Sprit Rattle." Jibolba said, leading Tak to his room. "Now, get some sleep, young man. You can start your Yorbel-hunting tomorrow."

Tak looked back at Jibolba and smiled, as the door was closed behind him.

Jibolba turned back, and finally paid attention to Kat, and realized she wasn't in her box. Finally seeing her in her full-bodied form, he began scrutinizing her, as if he was trying to find something.

Kat just felt more awkward than ever.

"Riiight…" The girl finally said. "I'll just go sleep outside."

"Yes, uh, goodnight." Jibolba said as he turned to his bookshelf.

Kat quickly went out the door, and slumped onto the outside wall of the hut, fatigue finally getting to her. The lighted houses were going out, one by one, until the only lighted one was the one she was sitting near. She looked up at the stars.

The stars were so bright, so clear, so beautiful in the sky. She never could even imagine this many stars were in the sky. She began forming pictures in them, until she felt her eyelids suddenly grow heavy, and finally close, as she drifted off into a dreamland of her own.

Inside the hut, Jibolba began leafing through his bookcase, until he finally found the book he'd been searching for. He pulled it out, dusted off the cover, and laid it on the top of the bookcase.

"There's definitely a good bit of information in that book!" he whispered as he put out the candles lighting the main room, and slinked off to his own personal bedroom through the dark.

However, in the Tree Village, three were not about to sleep. In a small, secluded area, T'laloc was still awake, and terribly furious.

"YOWCH! Watch where you're pokin' that needle, there, T'laloc! Y'almost pricked out my eye!"

"Well, if you two were a bit more CAREFUL, I wouldn't be this pissed off!"

"I told ya before! He's just too smart for us!"

"Then at some point, I guess I'll just have to deal with the boy myself!"

He dropped Pins off his lap, whose half-sewed-on head bounced irregularly from the floor. Needles, whose head was already sewn on, ran up to help his doll brother as T'laloc stormed off to the other side off to the other side of the small area, completely neglecting his needle and thread. Needles sighed and began stitching on Pins' head. Poorly, but still stitching.

"Wuh dr huh huvvuh rr srr uhgrrr ur ruh trrm?"

"It's something that has to do with Tak, but I'm not sure what it is…but whatever it is, he's losing his head over it."

A/N: OH MY GOD THIS TOOK SO LONG TO WRITE FOR SOME REASON. Well, the next update, Tak will begin his quest for the magic Yorbels, and obtain Lok's lost spirit along the way, hopefully! But, will T'laloc succeed in his plans to hinder Tak's progress at every turn? Or are Kat and Flora going to help him be the best he can be in his quests? Well, if you've played the game, you know how it goes. XD

Stay updated! Comment, Fave, Rate, all that good stuff, ladies and gentlemen!


	9. Chapter 8: A Dreamy Interlude

A/N: PLEASE hear me out about this. Kat is a subplot in the first two stories, this one MUCH more than the next (because she's only seen twice, in the next story, but mentioned an awful lot) only because of my stupid 10-year-old mind loved my OCs too much. Also, my stupid 10-year-old self is making me keep her in the story because I've already gotten the entire series for the first 3 games planned out and I don't want to change it. I'm terribly sorry to all that I've angered with the inclusion of Kat in this story, but sometimes, I can't help myself. :(

_**Tak's Dream**_

Tak turned and turned, standing on the little green and yellow floating island he loved to stay on in his dreams. He normally ran around his little sweet dreams playground, as he called it, but tonight was more of a leisurely night to him. He thomped down onto the island's surface. It felt as soft as a cloud, and squishy as a water balloon between his toes. He stretched out, feeling the island shift beneath him, as if he was making ripples across water on a hydrophobic surface. He sighed, looking up at the lovely aqua sky, and the lemon-yellow to seafoam-green bubbles shifting around other, much larger islands.

"Sometimes," He said aloud, even though he was sure nobody else was in the dream world. "I wish I could just stay here forever."

_**Kat's Dream**_

Kat was sitting crosslegged in what seemed to be a field of poppies. She ran her hand over the vermillion flowers' petals, letting a lovely scent escape from them. Taking in the scent, she started feeling oddly sleepy. She shook her head a few times to snap herself out of hit, and suddenly saw a blinding light. A figure floated down from the sky, shielding Kat's eyes from the harsh light. As the silhouette grew closer, it took on the form of a woman. Kat stood up to greet her, as the figure soon touched down. She opened her eyes, irises a pale periwinkle, exactly like her curly hair.

"Good evening my dear." The woman said with a smile. Her voice was smooth as silk, with a slight british accent accompanying it. "How has your day been? Hm?"

"Uh…" Kat said uncertainly, trying to think of something to say. "I'm sorry, but…who are you?"

"Call me Elaine, darling. That's all." She batted her eyes twice and turned to the side a little, holding her hands behind her back.

"Oh, uh, well, my name is Kat and…I'm fine, thank you very much." Kat replied.

"I knew your name, deary." Elaine said, turning back to face her. "Look at me. Doesn't anything about me strike you as familiar?"

"Um…no…?" Kat replied, shifting her feet.

Elaine frowned. "I was hoping you'd at least recognize me. Oh well…guess I should go." She began floating back up, and the portal of light appeared again.

"Wait!" Kat called after her. "Why have you come to speak to me?"

The woman turned and smiled. "You'll find out soon enough!"

And she disappeared, as did the light, leaving Kat utterly confused.

_**The next morning…**_

"Kat! Hey! Wake up!"

Kat groaned a little and opened her eyes, and was greeted by Tak standing over her.

"Hi Tak." Kat said groggily. "What's up?"

"Well, before we start hunting for Yorbels, Jibolba says he has something to show us."

"Really?" Kat said, standing up. "Well, let's go look!"

Inside the hut, Jibolba greeted them, and got something from the bookshelf.

"Now," He began. "This is something I wanted to show you." He opened it up and continued explaining. "This is a book containing information and drawings of all of the jujus until a few years back. Now, the reason I brought this out is-" but he stopped short as he looked at the book quizzically.

"What's wrong, Jibolba?" Tak asked.

"Th-the page I was searching for is missing! I could've sworn it was in there the last time I checked!" Jibolba shouted.

"Well, when did you last check?" Tak asked.

"Uh…n-never mind." Jibolba said, a little deflated. Kat suddenly saw something that grabbed her attention.

"Wait a second!" She exclaimed, pointing to the drawing on the right page. "I saw her in my dream!"

"Who?" Jibolba asked. "The Moon Juju?"

"Y-yeah. She…" Kat trailed off, suddenly confused. _Wasn't the Moon Juju technically trapped? How did she appear in a dream?_

"Jujus can't even appear in the dream world! How on Earth did you see her?" Jibolba asked. This confused Kat even further.

"I…I…"She tried to muster an answer. But all she could do was shrug.

Jibolba sighed and shut the book. "Well, that was completely pointless…" He sighed, disappointed. "Well, you two run along, you've got some Yorbels to find! I'm not getting any younger here!" He said with a laugh.

Tak and his friend nodded to eachother and ran out of the hut, only to meet up with Flora.

"Hey, guys!" She greeted them as cheerfully as ever. "Ready to do some Yorbel hunting?"

"Sure," Tak said, uncertainly, "But I still have no clue what a Yorbel is."

"Well, come over here!" Flora said as she motioned them to follow her. They went across a bridge, and they came to a stop when they came face to face with a glowing, levitating, purple and blue orb.

"THIS is a Yorbel!" Flora said, presenting it to them. The two just stared in awe. "Well, go on Tak, grab it!"

Tak did so, but the moment he touched it, a sudden spark ran across the spherical object. Tak stared as it began to shrink down to the size of a marble. He quickly caught it in the palm of his hand, and placed it into the satchel where he kept the plants, before.

"What on earth made it do that?" Tak asked to nobody in particular. Kat spoke up with an answer.

"Well, maybe, it's 'cause since you have to collect 100 of them, it makes them easier to carry?"

Tak looked back at her with an oddly blank look. "That was rhetorical, but, I guess that could work…"

"Alrighty then!" Flora said. "One down, ninety-nine to go!" She giggled. "Now, I'm sure there's a good few more in this village, so, let's check around here before we leave for somewhere else." The nymph then transformed into her green ball form and motioned them to follow. They did so, and ran off to search for more.

_Some time later…_

Tak leapt onto the higher wooden ledge, catching the fifth yorbel, and letting it shrink in his hand. Once he got his footing, he dropped it into his satchel along with the other four.

"Hmm…" Flora counted on her fingers. "I…think that's all for the village. I'm sure there's a good few more in other places. Like, I know where a bunch of 'em are in Dryrock Canyon. Wanna go there first?"

Tak groaned with displeasure, but agreed. "Well, ok…it does seem to be the closest, but I still don't like it…"

"Tak," The taller girl said, giving him a little advice. "Get the worst over with first, and that way, you won't have to hate it later! Just lettin' you know." She said with a warm smile.

Tak smiled, however still displeased about Dryrock Canyon, and they ran to the lift.


	10. Chapter 9: Tak, Party of One

"Hey, Flora," Tak asked. "Do you remember how many Yorbels are in Dryrock? I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to…"

"Well, hm, lemme see…" She began mentally counting, drumming her green fingers on the side of the lift. "There's about fifteen in Dryrock alone, however, there's twenty four in a cavern, hidden somewhere in the lower part of the place, so, that's thirty nine in all, adding onto the ones we got before, that would make…fourty four!

Tak groaned in exasperation. "This is gonna take longer than I thought…" he said, looking away from Flora, only to come face to face with Kat. More specifically, the middle of her yellow, chartreuse and green dress, but she squatted down to be at eye level with him.

"Hey, I'm gonna help collect some of 'em…and so will Flora. Right Flora?" The brunette asked the nymph-like juju standing on the other side of the lift. This took Flora by surprise, causing her to do a slight jump.

"Huh? Oh, uh, sure, I guess…" She said with uncertainty laced in her voice. Kat nodded and turned back to Tak.

"So don't you worry your pretty little head about this Yorbel deal, kid!" She said, ruffling Tak's hair. "We'll be always helping you out along the way. 100 may seem like a quite a lot, but you know, in time, we'll be collecting them like nobody's business!"

The rail carrying them came to a stop, and they hopped out. They looked around the area they were dropped off in, seeing if there were any Yorbels around.

"Well, looks like this will be quite the scavenger hunt…" Flora said, pressing a finger to her cheek.

"Scavenger hunt…HEY!" Kat said, suddenly coming up with an idea. "Why don't we make this fun? It could be like a game…a race!"

Flora looked at Kat, now liking the idea of helping her and Tak out with Yorbel collecting herself. "A race? How so?" She asked, intrigued.

"We each get five of them. Whoever gets back to a set point first is the winner!"

"Ok, but one thing…" Tak interjected. "No cheating by flying or teleporting. You've gotta be fair for me!"

"Alright." Flora agreed. "Well, we meet back at the tram." She said, marking the spot with an X via her foot. "Ok, with that decided…"

"LET'S GO!" All three shouted, enthusiastically.

* * *

They set off for their separate paths. Tak took the lower levels, Flora took the edges, and Kat searched around the center.

Poor Tak, being restricted to the bottom, was being chased after by hordes after hordes of Nerbils. Thankfully, after exploring quite a bit, he was able to find a rhino that was able to knock down layers of wooden gates, along with more waves of Nerbils that came his way. After collecting his designated five yorbels, he rushed back on the rhino to the meeting place.

Kat leapt around the center high-rocks with ease. She would've gotten done quicker, if not for the coconut-tossing nerbils that were scattered around. When she had collected her last yorbel, she was about to head back to the tram, but not before she turned and saw a strange artifact with a bright green glow near her. She had to get it before she went back.

As Flora scaled the edges, she kept an eye out for any type of Nerbil that would get in her way. But soon enough, she found something strange that grabbed her attention as well. There was a large door at the opposite end of the canyon from where they left. Engraved upon it was a strange symbol of something that looked similar to the sun. She was sure she recognized it from somewhere, she just forgot where. But then she realized her thoughts were distracting her, and she quickly flew back.

* * *

Kat got back first, quickly followed by Tak. When she heard his footsteps, she looked over to him and smiled.

"What?!" Tak exclaimed as he saw Kat back first. "Aw. Man! I almost beat you! I was THIS close!"

"Well, ya did good, Tak. Got your five?" Kat asked, taking out her five marble-sized yorbels from one of the folds of her dress.

"Mmhm!" He opened the satchel he carried, showing the five he got here and the ones he got before making ten. The brunette then dumped her five yorbels into the satchel. The two sat and waited patiently for Flora.

After about two minutes, Flora flew back as quickly as an arrow. She then opened her eyes and saw the two of them already there. "Oh MAN!" She groaned, realizing she had lost the race. "Okay," the nymph said with exasperation. "Who got here first?"

"Kat did." Tak said, pointing to her. "But if she were only a few seconds late, I would've beaten her!" He said with a proud voice.

"Yeah," Kat agreed. "It was a really close match! Oh, and uhm, one more thing…" The brunette explained as Flora was handing her five yorbels to Tak. "I found this on an outcropping. Can you tell me what it is?" And Kat reached into another dress fold, and pulled out a glowing, green tiki.

Flora and Tak stood there with mouths agape, looking at the artifact Kat held. "I've only heard about those…" the young boy whispered, pointing at the tiki, amazed.

"Kat, you found a juju tiki!" Flora said, moving closer and examining it. "I know where the shrine is, guys! C'mon!" And with that, they followed the glowing green ball to an unshaded part of the canyon.

"Oww…" Tak whined, with a stinging heat pricking at the soles of his feet. "Why does rock have to be this hot from being in the sun all day?" Tak said, shielding his eyes from the intense sunlight.

"Whoa," Kat said, looking at where the sun rose from. "Is it already noon, or is the sun just brighter than it was yesterday?"

"No, I think noon is in about…two hours. The sun _does_ seem brighter, though. Why do you s'pose that is?"

"Here we are, guys!" Flora exclaimed, pointing at the shrine There were five stone faces surrounding it, with a risen rock center with a hole to put something in.

Kat quickly turned to Tak and handed him the tiki. "I think you should do the honors, Tak. It's your quest, after all!" She said with a wink.

Tak then walked up to the shrine, knelt down, and carefully placed the tiki into the center. Light surrounded him, swirling about, and he moved away. But suddenly, the light shot away from the shrine, and through a door they were next to. As Flora's eyes watched the light move, she couldn't help but notice that the door the lights shot through had the same pattern of the door she found before. Tak, however, didn't hesitate at all, and ran to the door as quickly as he could.

He knocked the door, which surprisingly made a loud, metallic noise, and a nervous, high pitched voice suddenly chimed.

* * *

"Ooh! Uh…s-somebody's at the door!" It wavered. Another voice joined in. This one, much deeper and a bit more steady in its' speech.

"What strange traveler comes to this lonely cursed gateway?" The deeper voice asked, ominously.

"My name is Tak!" Tak shouted, hoping the jujus behind the door could hear him. "Uh…I-I'm here on a important mission! You must open this door…uh…immediately…please."

"Oh, just a minute!" The high pitched voice said. "Um, before we can open this portal, we must check the sacred list!"

"Sacred list? What list?" Tak asked, confused. The deep voice responded.

"You have to be on the sacred list to get in. Now let's see…"

Flora and Kat watched from behind Tak. Flora pressed a finger to her chin and asked herself, "Where have I heard those voices before…?" Until her eyes widened, and she suddenly facepalmed. Kat put a hand on the agitated Flora's shoulder. In response, the nymph growled, "I forgot mom put that idiot on guard duty here, when he's supposed to be at Chicken Island! Ugh…two heads…no brain."

From Tak's view, the two voices began reading off the 'list', with the higher one starting.

"Um, there's 'Tabore Plus One'…"

"And Tadourt the Elder, party of three…"

"Taffie, party of t-"

"Oh, remember 'Taffy Dates The Most Incredible Looking Jujesses?' Remember Gazellda the Gargantua? Oh baby!" The high voice swooned.

"Oh yeah, ladies love Taffy, even if he is so…" The deep voice trailed off as he continued down the list.

"Okay, um…Ta-Galog?"

"Ugh, forget the list!" Tak shouted, horribly annoyed. "WILL YOU JUST OPEN THIS DOOR?!"

"Oh, well, um, what did you say your name was, again?" The high pitched voice asked.

Tak sighed and said, "Tak. T-A-K!"

"Ah here it is!" The lower voice said. "Tak, party of one! CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'RE ON THE LIST, MAN!"

"Well, then, we'll open the door for you!"

Tak was happy at first, but as he saw the top of the door begin to come loose, he quickly ran out and took cover behind a rock to the side of the door. Flora and Kat did the same, since they didn't want to get crushed either. But as the door come down, a green-skinned, two headed Juju, wearing overalls and a white shirt with a red 'J' on it looked around for who they were talking to.

"Mister Tak, party of one?" The right head asked.

"Hey…he just took off!" The left head said, disappointed. "I dunno. Same thing that ever happens every time we open this door."

"Yeah…hey, shouldn't we be getting back to our post at Chicken Island?" The right head asked the left one.

"Yeah! Good idea, bro!" The left head replied, and they disappeared.

* * *

The three looked up carefully from behind the rock, and looked at the entrance that was left by the two headed juju.

"Should we go in?" Kat asked Flora with uncertainty.

"Hey…I think these are the dryrock caverns! Come on, you two!" Flora said as she motioned the two to follow her once again.

* * *

A/N: Oh, up next comes one of my least favorite parts of this game. But don't worry. Tak won't get bombarded by nerbils in the caverns. Hopefully he'll get out of there just fine!


	11. Chapter 10: The Cavern of Wonders

As the three entered the cave, the door suddenly lifted itself back up, and closed behind them, trapping the in semi-darkness. Flora kept motioning the two forward, a light green glow surrounding her body. They came up to a tiny blue sphere of light, looking almost as if it was held in a pedestal in the middle of a shallow body of water. Flora looked around at the area that was still lit, and had a slight nervous tinge in her voice as she talked.

"Tak, I've seen Lok train here before." She whispered, as not to trigger an echo. "This is a dangerous place. You NEED to be careful!" she pointed to the light sphere. "Those lights that are scattered few and far between throughout these caverns are your only way to see, and you have to follow them through the caverns. Don't get too far behind the light or the Nerbils will get us!"

"Nerbils?!" Tak exclaimed. He suddenly covered his mouth as the his echo rattled throughout the cave. There was a slight movement along the cave walls, accompanied by chittering and other nervous noises. Tak quickly lowered his voice to a whisper. "But I thought Nerbils couldn't see in the dark!" He whispered back urgently.

"These ones can. They're a dark green in shade and have glowing red eyes. If you see them begin to open their eyes, it's advised you run as quickly as you can." Flora whispered. "Now, I'll be helping out by getting the Yorbels for you. Kat, will you stay with Tak and help him be able to follow the light?"

"Can do." Kat said under her breath, as not to trigger an echo. "I've quite the stamina, and once my eyes adjust, I can see really well in the dark. Cause something tells me this place has quite the amount of pitfalls."

"P-Pitfalls?" Tak stammered.

"Listen," Kat reassured him. "It's my duty to protect you, alright? I'm not gonna let you fall, ok? You can hold my hand if you want. I'll guide you through this."

"Uh, ok. Thanks, too. That's really nice of you." Tak said quietly as he hesitantly held her hand.

"Alright, we set?" Flora said, getting ready to fly off.

Tak looked up at her and nodded, then looked at Kat. She nodded back.

"Ready as I'll ever be." She whispered back to him.

Tak then touched the light, and it began to fly off. Both Flora and Katrianne followed it quickly. Flora was fine with her own bioluminescence, but Kat and Tak had to follow the light. Poor Tak lost his footing as soon as Kat took off, so she was halfway dragging him along. Once he regained his footing, despite the sharp turns Kat took, he realized how slippery the floor was. He ran along with her, now that she relaxed and began to go at a comfortable pace for him to run along beside her. He caught glimpses of Flora flying around them, collecting the purple spheres.

* * *

"Hey, Kat," Tak panted. "C-Can we stop at the next lightholder?" Tak panted. "I need to catch…my…breath." He looked up at Kat, and she nodded. But all of a sudden, they heard a scream, coming from their left.

A winged nerbil had flown straight into Flora, throwing her off course. She flew straight into Tak, knocking his hand out of Kat's grasp, and sending him plummeting to the water below. Kat quickly noticed this, and flew straight after him. She grabbed his hand just as his toes hit the river, and even though she was able to yank him back up, the light was already long gone.

Kat looked around, holding Tak close, as red eyes began to appear on the walls. The space around them seemed to shrink as hordes of nerbils drew in closer and closer. Tak buried his face in Kat's arms, horrified of what might happen next. Kat was only sitting there with her anger building. A heat began to radiate from her hands, along with a golden glow. The wall of nerbils stopped short when they saw the yellow light.

Kat stood, letting go of Tak, and took on a fierce pose, the glow spreading to the rest of her body. Fire began materializing in her bare hands. As anger took control of her instincts, she began shooting at wherever the eyes were. The nerbils in each space she shot spread out, creating circles in the wall, but some of them were not fast enough, so they burnt to a crisp.

As Flora flew back up, Tak was walking back up to Kat, whose glow had shrunk back to her hands, but had created enough bioluminescence to last until the next lightholder. Kat turned back to Flora, who jumped back a little at her serious face.

"Now," The firey guardian started. "We keep going, and we don't stop 'till the end."

"Oh, right!" Flora said. "I remember the last lightholder does something pretty cool! The light enters the traveler's body, and is able to guide them back to the entrance!"

"Rather convenient." Kat said, smiling a little. "Ready Tak?" She asked her friend. He nodded back, and they set off again, for the end of the tunnel.

* * *

Once they reached the end, the light stopped. It floated in front of Tak, and even though it didn't have a face, Tak almost thought it was scrutinizing him. The light descended, and went straight through his chest, his body suddenly gaining warmth and emitting the light itself.

"Wow, Tak!" Flora said. "You became the light! Now, we just gotta get back to the entrance. I've already got the Yorbels, so we can just get out of here once we reach the end!" Tak smiled and nodded, glad that they were going to get out of the caves and Dryrock Canyon so soon. Without hesitation, the three made it back to the entrance.

However, once Tak returned the ball of light to its original lightholder, Flora made a frustrated noise, along with a rather hard facepalm.

"What's wrong?" Tak asked, concerned.

"Oh I'm such an idiot! I forgot…" Flora groaned. "There are three cavern branches, each one holding a bunch of Yorbels! I knew the count was off by a lot, but I forgot that THIS was why!"

"Wait…so…?" Tak began to ask, the look on his face becoming one of pure despair.

"Yeah, Tak. Sorry, you two, but we're going to be staying here for a bit longer than we planned for." Flora said, apologizing to the two.

The boy and his guardian only whined in response, but decided that they had to carry on.

* * *

Once they got back to the entrance from the last cavern, the three sat in the center of the cave, finally able to catch their breath.

"Alright, so, I caught 2 more yorbels on the last run…" Tak said, holding the marbles out for Flora.

"Great! Now, counting them all together, that's…twenty…three? How are we missing one? I checked all of the caverns and-" But the green juju was cut off by Kat getting up to examine something on the cave ceiling.

She floated upwards, and beckoned Flora to come look as well.

"This sure has a similar pattern to the Yorbels we've been searching for…doesn't it?" Flora asked, looking at it from the opposite side that Kat was.

"Yeah…" Kat said, knocking on the side of it. "Sounds hollow, too. I wonder how it would open?"

"Hey, guys! Look at the bottom!" They heard Tak shout from the floor of the cavern. Flora floated downwards, and decided to take a look at it.

"Huh…there's three hollow holes…why are they in here? And more importantly…what are they missing?"

Kat's eyes suddenly widened. "Wait, Flora, don't judge me…but I just got a crazy idea!" She flew downwards and took one of the light balls from its spot, surprising both Flora and Tak.

"Kat?! What do you think you're doing?" Flora exclaimed as her friend flew back up with the light ball.

"Don't worry! It fits! I have a feeling this is gonna work!" Kat said as she flew down to get another light ball.

Flora facepalmed as Kat continued with her light-gathering, while Tak watched in curiosity. When Kat got the last one, the sphere began to rumble. Flora became alert as the noise startled her. Both her and Kat backed away, as they were scared of what might happen.

A rather flashy display took place, as the Yorbel patterned sphere began to crack like an egg. When the rock completely split in half, the pieces seemed to dissolve. They couldn't yet see what was in the center, but soon enough, a blast of air came from the center of the cavern, and suddenly, light filled the center of the cavern. The dark Nerbils that were closer to the walls hissed and backed away, much farther into the cave. And as they looked down, what was in the giant rock slowly descended towards Tak. It was the last Yorbel that finally made 24.

"YESSSSSS!" Flora screamed with her fist in the air. "Finally, all 24 yorbels, making all 39 in this place! Well, where should we be heading next?"

"I say chicken island. I think it'd be a good change from dry, rocky cliffs and super bright sun." Tak suggested, getting up from the water in the center of the cavern.

"I second that notion." Kat said. "I mean, it's got shady spots, lots of lakes, and the geysers and waterfalls can provide cooling if the sun seems to be beating down a bit too much."

"Well…" Flora said, stroking her chin. "Seems the vote is unanimous! To Chicken Island we go!"

The three of them pushed down the stone door and left the cave. Making their way to the lift, and back to the village.

On the entire tram ride, Flora was still trying to figure out why that sun symbol bothered her so much.

* * *

A/N: YAY! Tak made it out of there in one piece! Yes, I know the juju powerup is supposed to be in that big stone thing, but I thought this would be a bit more creative, and Juju Powerups would take up too much time and it seems a bit pointless to get through all of them. Keep a lookout for the next chapter! We're going to my FAVORITE PART OF THE GAME! :D


End file.
